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Dorylus Molestus
''Dorylus molestus'' is a species of African army ant. Taxonomy Older names include '' Anomma molestus'', ''Dorylus (Anomma) molestus'', ''Dorylus (Anomma) nigricans molestus'', ''Dorylus molestus'' (Gerstaecker, 1859) and ''Dorylus nigricans molestus''. Description Males or drones of all dorylus species are so called "sausage flies" and are among the largest ant morphs. Some ''Dorylus molestus'' queen are the largest known extant ants. Queens typically grow to but can reach . Its size of Molestus queens allows it to hold the world record in egg laying. Workers (sterile females in the presence of the only living queen) range from . Huge and specialised soldier morphs (permanent sterile females) provide protection during migration raids. Ecology ''D molestus'' is an East African surface swarm raider army ant. The species is important to its ecology; it supports myrmycophile fauna, especially east African birds that attend its raids and depend on the ants' presence in their h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Army Ant
The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited area. Another shared feature is that, unlike most ant species, army ants do not construct permanent nests; an army ant colony moves almost incessantly over the time it exists. All species are members of the true ant family, Formicidae, but several groups have independently evolved the same basic behavioural and ecological syndrome. This syndrome is often referred to as "legionary behaviour", and may be an example of convergent evolution. Most New World army ants belong to the genera ''Cheliomyrmex'', ''Neivamyrmex'', ''Nomamyrmex'', ''Labidus'', and ''Eciton''. The largest genus is ''Neivamyrmex'', which contains more than 120 species; the most predominant species is ''Eciton burchellii''; its common name "army ant" is considered to b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmecophily
Myrmecophily ( , ) is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. Myrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its more general use, the term may also refer to commensal or even parasitic interactions. The term "myrmecophile" is used mainly for animals that associate with ants. An estimated 10,000 species of ants (Formicidae) are known, with a higher diversity in the tropics.B. Holldobler and E.O. Wilson, The Ants, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1990. In most terrestrial ecosystems, ants are ecologically and numerically dominant, being the main invertebrate predators. As a result, ants play a key role in controlling arthropod richness, abundance, and community structure.K. Fiedler, B. Holldobler, and P. Seufert, "Butterflies and ants: The communicative domain," Cellular and molecular life sciences, vol. 52, 1996 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoologists and paleontologists use ''fauna'' to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess Shale fauna". Paleontologists sometimes refer to a sequence of faunal stages, which is a series of rocks all containing similar fossils. The study of animals of a particular region is called faunistics. Etymology ''Fauna'' comes from the name Fauna, a Roman goddess of earth and fertility, the Roman god Faunus, and the related forest spirits called Fauns. All three words are cognates of the name of the Greek god Pan, and ''panis'' is the Greek equivalent of fauna. ''Fauna'' is also the word for a book that catalogues the animals in such a manner. The term was first used b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the host) and parasitoidism (which always does, eventually). It is distinct from scavenging on dead prey, though many predators also scavenge; it overlaps with herbivory, as seed predators and destructive frugivores are predators. Predators may actively search for or pursue prey or wait for it, often concealed. When prey is detected, the predator assesses whether to attack it. This may involve ambush or pursuit predation, sometimes after stalking the prey. If the attack is successful, the predator kills the prey, removes any inedible parts like the shell or spines, and eats it. Predators are adapted and often highly specialized for hunting, with acute senses such as vision, hearing, or smell. Many predatory animals, both vertebrate and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arthropod cuticle, cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate. The arthropod body plan consists of segments, each with a pair of appendages. Arthropods are bilaterally symmetrical and their body possesses an exoskeleton, external skeleton. In order to keep growing, they must go through stages of moulting, a process by which they shed their exoskeleton to reveal a new one. Some species have wings. They are an extremely diverse group, with up to 10 million species. The haemocoel, an arthropod's internal cavity, through which its haemolymph – analogue of blood – circulates, accommodates its interior Organ (anatomy), organs; it has an open circulatory system. Like their exteriors, the internal or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') level. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth; it is usually greater in the tropics as a result of the warm climate and high primary productivity in the region near the equator. Tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10% of earth's surface and contain about 90% of the world's species. Marine biodiversity is usually higher along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest, and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans. There are latitudinal gradients in species diversity. Biodiversity generally tends to cluster in hotspots, and has been increasing through time, but will be likely to slow in the future as a primary result of deforestation. It encompasses the evolutionary, ecological, and cultural ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattodea (along with cockroaches). Termites were once classified in a separate order from cockroaches, but recent phylogenetic studies indicate that they evolved from cockroaches, as they are deeply nested within the group, and the sister group to wood eating cockroaches of the genus ''Cryptocercus''. Previous estimates suggested the divergence took place during the Jurassic or Triassic. More recent estimates suggest that they have an origin during the Late Jurassic, with the first fossil records in the Early Cretaceous. About 3,106 species are currently described, with a few hundred more left to be described. Although these insects are often called "white ants", they are not ants, and are not closely related to ants. Like ants and some bees a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bivouac (ants)
A bivouac is a structure formed by migratory driver ant and army ant colonies, such as the species ''Eciton burchellii''. A nest is constructed out of the living ant workers' own bodies to protect the queen and larva A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. The ...e, and is later deconstructed as the ants move on.T. C. Schneirla, Robert Z. Brown and Frances C. Brown (1954) The Bivouac or Temporary Nest as an Adaptive Factor in Certain Terrestrial Species of Army Ants. Ecological Monographs 24(3):269-296 Army ants can forage and feed on insects over large areas of more than 1,800 square yards in a single day, so they must constantly move to new areas. During what is called the migratory phase, the ants set up bivouacs at new sites each night. As many as 150,000 to 700,000 worker b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haploid
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively, in each homologous chromosome pair, which chromosomes naturally exist as. Somatic cells, tissues, and individual organisms can be described according to the number of sets of chromosomes present (the "ploidy level"): monoploid (1 set), diploid (2 sets), triploid (3 sets), tetraploid (4 sets), pentaploid (5 sets), hexaploid (6 sets), heptaploid or septaploid (7 sets), etc. The generic term polyploid is often used to describe cells with three or more chromosome sets. Virtually all sexually reproducing organisms are made up of somatic cells that are diploid or greater, but ploidy level may vary widely between different organisms, between different tissues within the same organism, and at different stages in an organism's life cycle. Half ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swarm Intelligence
Swarm intelligence (SI) is the collective behavior of decentralized, self-organized systems, natural or artificial. The concept is employed in work on artificial intelligence. The expression was introduced by Gerardo Beni and Jing Wang in 1989, in the context of cellular robotic systems. SI systems consist typically of a population of simple agents or boids interacting locally with one another and with their environment.Hu, J.; Turgut, A.; Krajnik, T.; Lennox, B.; Arvin, F.,Occlusion-Based Coordination Protocol Design for Autonomous Robotic Shepherding Tasks IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, 2020. The inspiration often comes from nature, especially biological systems. The agents follow very simple rules, and although there is no centralized control structure dictating how individual agents should behave, local, and to a certain degree random, interactions between such agents lead to the emergence of "intelligent" global behavior, unknown to the individual a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorylinae
Dorylinae is an ant subfamily, with distributions in both the Old World and New World. Brady ''et al.'' (2014) synonymized the previous dorylomorph subfamilies (Aenictinae, Aenictogitoninae, Cerapachyinae, Ecitoninae, and Leptanilloidinae) under Dorylinae., while Borowiec (2016) reviewed and revised the genera, resurrecting many genera which had previously been merged. Dorylinae genera are suggested to have evolved sometime between , subsequently undergoing rapid adaptive radiation events during their early history. Genera *''Acanthostichus'' Mayr, 1887 *''Aenictogiton'' Emery, 1901 *''Aenictus'' Shuckard, 1840 *''Cerapachys'' Smith, 1857 *''Cheliomyrmex'' Mayr, 1870 *'' Chrysapace'' Crawley, 1924 *''Cylindromyrmex'' Mayr, 1870 *''Dorylus'' Fabricius, 1793 *'' Eburopone'' Borowiec, 2016 *''Eciton'' Latreille, 1804 *'' Eusphinctus'' Emery, 1893 *''Labidus'' Jurine, 1807 *'' Leptanilloides'' Mann, 1923 *'' Lioponera'' Mayr, 1879 *'' Lividopone'' Bolton & Fisher, 2016 *''Neivamyrme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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