Origin
Ants have lived on earth for over 100 million years, being considered the species that evolved and adapted best to the conditions that appeared over time in the evolution of the Earth.
More than 20,000 species are discovered, of which the most famous are the black and red ones, as well as the white ants, or termites. They are related to bees and Wasps, the proof being the needle-shaped organ with venom at the top of the abdomen.
Sociable beings, ants live in large groups, called colonies, in which the organization of work is very well established. It is not for nothing that they are considered – as in the fable cricket and Ant – the most industrious insects.
Ant Food
In general, ants are insectivorous, but they also feed on plants, and some species grow their own food by growing plant lice or cultivating fungi to produce a nutritious diet for the colony.
So, several species of European ants care for lice, which they milk, stroking them with their antennae to encourage the production of extrafloral Honey, their food source. Although it is high in sugars, honey generally has little protein.
To compensate for this lack, a species of ants from Asia carries the worms from the older leaves, the young ones, rich in protein, ensuring that the resulting honey has a high protein level.
Leaf-cutting ants from South America carry the cut leaves and other plant fragments to the colony. When they reach the nest the ants deposit the harvest in one of the underground chambers intended for the cultivation of fungi.
Smaller ants grind the leaves, smaller ones chew them and knead them, making lumps, which they spread through the rooms. These lumps are the ideal growth medium for a fungus similar to bread mold.
The fungus Digests cellulose and proteins in plant matter, producing the nutrients needed by ants. The small ants of the colony wean the garden from other intrusive fungi. Extrafloral honey mushrooms feed the approx. 5 million individuals of the colony.
Ant Features
Like any insect, the Ant's body consists of three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. The six legs, which start from the thorax, are covered with fine bristles, with which the Ant cleans its two antennae from the top of the head.
Antennae are very important organs for touching, smelling or hearing and replace the functions of the eyes, many and gathered together, which are little developed. The ants also use their antennae to communicate by touch with the other sisters in the colony.
Besides the eyes and antennae, the head ends with a kind of Jaws, like pliers, weapons with which the Ant defends itself from enemies. Also a kind of pliers, more developed and sharper, have on each leg ants-soldiers, those that guard the anthill.
The middle part of the body, the thorax, is the section in which the heart is located, shaped like a long tube, which pumps a kind of colorless blood throughout the body. Interestingly, this process is not done through blood vessels (as in other animals and humans).
The Ant has no lungs, breathing is done through the pores of the membrane covering the entire body of the insect.
The life span of a colony directly depends on the life of the Queen. When it dies, The Anthill will not last for more than a few months, because very rarely the Queen is replaced by another ant. Thus, without the Queen, the ants leave the anthill and will have the same fate as their leader.
Ant Reproduction
The role of each inhabitant of the anthill (musuroiului) is very well established and respected within the group. Thus, the colony is ruled by a single ant, the Queen of the anthill, whose sole task is to lay eggs, being always cared for and defended by all other ants. It was she who first formed the colony.
But how does a new ant family actually appear and form ? During the nuptial flight, the female mates with a male ant, after which it descends to the ground, and after a while its wings fall, it never being able to fly. Here they start looking for a shelter (under a stone or in a hollow wood, in the case of termites) or dig an underground tunnel.
From this main tunnel, which can be 5 meters deep, so-called underground chambers are then formed, connected by other smaller tunnels. These rooms will have different uses as the colony grows in number of ants: foraging, hibernating or laying eggs.
Most of the other ants in the anthill are workers, the food gathered by them being shared "brotherly" among all the members of the colony. The care of keeping the eggs Falls also in the attributions of the worker ants, who wipe them by rubbing them with the body, so as not to deposit soil on them.
The eggs then turn into larvae (a stage in which the egg is dressed in a kind of oval shell, called a cocoon), from which future ants will emerge.
