photo ants
Ants are insects that come from a family eusosial Formisidae, and ants are included in the order Himenoptera along with bees and wasps.
photo ant colony
Ants divided into more than 12,000 groups, with a large number of comparisons in the tropics. Ants are known to nest-nest colonies and orderly, which sometimes consist of thousands of ants per colony. Types of ants are divided into worker ants, ants, male and queen ants. One colony may retain and use a large area to support their activities. Ant colonies are sometimes called superorganisme because the colony appears to operate as a unitary.
photo ant colony
Ants have colonized almost every landmass on Earth. Only in a few places such as Iceland, Greenland and Hawaii, they do not master the proficiency level in these areas. At the time their numbers grew, they can membnetuk approximately 15-20% of the total biomass of large animals.
photo ants
Termites, sometimes called white ants, do not have a close relationship with ants, although they have the same social structure. Velvet ants, although resembling large ants, but they are not winged female wasps.
Evolution of Ants
The family Formicidae is part of the order Hymenoptera, which includes dragonflies, bees and wasps. Ants are descended from within the vespoid wasps. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that ants evolved from dragonflies vespoid in the Cretaceous about 120 million to 170 million years ago. After the emergence of angiosperms plants around 100 million years ago, they menganekaragamkan ekolofi influence around 60 million years ago. Several fossils from the Cretaceous are intermediate in form between wasps and ants, and this adds evidence for wasp ancestry. Like other Hymenoptera berordo animals, the genetic system found in ants haplodiploidy.
In 1966, E. O. Wilson, et al. found fossils of ants in the sap of trees (Sphecomyrma freyi) from the Cretaceous. This fossil trapped in a gum tree in New Jersey and has been outstanding for more than 80 million years. This species provides the clearest evidence of the link between modern ants and non-social wasps. Cretaceous ants shared the characteristics of modern ants and wasps.
Development of Ants
Life of an ant starts from an egg. If the egg has been fertilized, the ant that was hatched females (diploid); if not male (haploid). Ants are holometabolism, which grows through a complete metamorphosis, passing through larval and pupal stages (with the pupa of exarate) before they become adults. Larval stage is a very vulnerable stage - more details ant larvae have no legs at all - and can not fend for oneself. The difference between queens and workers (which are both female), and between castes of workers if any, determined at the time still be feeding the larvae. Food given to larvae by a process called trophallaxis which an ant regurgitates food previously saved in the crop for communal storage. It's also the ways in which adult ants memdistribusikan makananpada other adult ants. Larvae and pupae should be stored at a fairly constant temperature to ensure they grow well, so it is often transferred to different Brood Chambers in the colony.
A new worker ants entering adulthood spent their first few days to take care of the queen and young ants. After it was increased to dig and other nest work, and then find food and defend the nest. This task changes can occur abruptly and are called the caste temporary. A teory why like that because foraging has a high mortality risk, so ants only participate if they are old enough and somehow closer to death. In some ant species there are physical castes - workers can have a body size that is different, called the minor workers, median, and major. Usually the larger ants have disproportionately large heads, and correspondingly more powerful jaws. Ants like these ants are often called "soldiers" because of their powerful jaws make them more effective when used to fight with other creatures, but they are still an ant task workers and they are not much different from the minor or median workers. In some ant species do not have the median worker, making separation of firm and clear physical difference between minor and major workers.