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Matabele Ants
Matabele ant refers to one of the following ant species or groups: * Certain Afrotropical ''Dorylus'' species, also known as Driver ants * ''Megaponera ''Megaponera analis'' is the sole species of the genus ''Megaponera''. They are a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) ponerine ant species widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa and most commonly known for their column-like raiding format ... analis'', a ponerine ant species See also *'' Plectroctena'' spp., resemble ''M. analis'' but are not army ants {{Disambiguation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dorylus
''Dorylus'', also known as driver ants, safari ants, or siafu, is a large genus of army ants found primarily in central and east Africa, although the range also extends to southern Africa and tropical Asia. The term siafu is a loanword from Swahili, and is one of numerous similar words from regional Bantu languages used by indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae (now Dorylinae), members of this genus form temporary subterranean bivouacs in underground cavities which they excavate and inhabit - either for a few days or up to three months. Also unlike some New World army ants, driver ants are not specialized predators of other species of ant, instead being more generalistic with a diet consisting of a diversity of arthropods. Colonies are enormous compared to other army ants and can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their American counterparts, workers exhibit caste polymorphism with th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megaponera
''Megaponera analis'' is the sole species of the genus ''Megaponera''. They are a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) ponerine ant species widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa and most commonly known for their column-like raiding formation when attacking termite feeding sites. Their sophisticated raiding behaviour gave them the common name Matabele ant after the Matabele tribe, fierce warriors who overwhelmed various other tribes during the 1800s. With some individuals reaching up to in length, ''M. analis'' is one of the world's largest ants. Taxonomy ''Megaponera'' is a genus of ponerine ant first defined by Gustav Mayr in 1862 for ''Formica analis'' ( Latreille, 1802), the sole species belonging to the genus to date. In 1994 William L. Brown, Jr. synonymised the genus under ''Pachycondyla'' even though he lacked phylogenetic justification, thereby changing the name from ''Megaponera foetens'' to ''Pachycondyla analis''. In 2014 Schmidt and Shattuck revived ''Megap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
