Types of ants. The most common type of ant in Russia. How many species of ants are there in the world? The largest ant in the world What is the largest ant in the world

Ants are the most numerous insects on earth. They occupy from 20 to 30% of living things on earth. There are many species – about 12,000. Among this number there are individuals that reach large sizes. A person who has not thought about it does not even realize how huge they are. There are several types of these insects. Let's consider which is the largest ant in the world.

Family

The community of these fauna representatives is highly organized. The family includes the brood, which in turn consists of eggs, larvae, pupae and adults (males and females). Among them there are individuals who are called workers. These include sterile females, soldiers and other groups of ants. Family sizes range from dozens of individuals to a colony. Almost each of them contains males and several females (queens or queens) capable of reproduction. All members of the large family are hardworking and subject to the strict laws of the community.

Kinds

Some of the largest ants live in Africa. They belong to the genus Formicidae, subfamily – Dinoponera Roger. They were first discovered in the 30s of the last century. The length of this type of ant is from 30 mm. Their colony stretches up to several kilometers and numbers millions of insects. Also applies to. Later, large ants of the following species of the genus Camponotus were discovered:

Giga. The body length is about 31 mm, in soldiers it is 28 mm, in working-type individuals it is 22 mm. Its color is black, its paws are painted in yellow tones, and the back part is characterized by brown and red shades. Their habitat is Asia.
Interesting!
Families fight among themselves to defend their territory. The insects that lose the battle leave her.
Vagus. This type is smaller. The length of the body reaches 12 mm; in the female it is about 16 mm. These ants can be found in Russia (Ural). There is only one queen in the family. As soon as the offspring appear, she independently organizes a nest. The female prefers to choose among rotten stumps, stones, and dried trees.
Herculeanus. Another species of ant relatives. In the queen and soldiers, the length reaches 20 mm, in worker specimens - 15 mm, and in males it is only 11 cm. They choose forest belts located in North Asia and America, Europe, and Siberia as their place of residence. Ants make nests in the trunks of diseased or dead trees, often causing irreparable harm to them, since such wood is used by industry.

Сlavata are not just huge ants; when people see them they are horrified. Their bite is very painful and much more dangerous than the sting of wasps and bees. The pain torments a person throughout the day. U, as they are often called, have a powerful sting containing poison, which contains a paralyzing substance. As a result, the person cannot move and seizures may occur. For allergy sufferers, a bite can be fatal.

Interesting!
Ants do not attack first; first they try to frighten the intended victim by hissing and emitting an untidy smell. The Indian tribes of South America have a special ritual - initiation. It is carried out for the male population. The glove (this can be seen in the photo) is filled with ants. The men hold her with their bare hands for 10 minutes. At the end of this “execution,” the hands become numb for a short time.

Bulldogs

I would also like to say something about the ants living in Australia. Local residents gave them the name - bulldogs. The length of their uterus is 4.5 cm, in worker specimens it reaches up to 4 cm. Their body shape is similar to that of wasps, but unlike them they do not have wings. This giant ant is distinguished by its very large jaws. They protrude forward half a centimeter. The ant's weapons are serrations located in the jaw.

Interesting!
The peculiarity of bulldog ants is strength. They can drag a load that is 50 times their size. is about 5 years. They overcome water barriers and make loud sounds that are not typical for other species of this genus of insects.

They prefer to live in damp areas, where they build nests. There are hundreds of ants in a family, sometimes containing about 1,000 individuals. Bulldogs are active, aggressive, and therefore pose a danger to humans.

Largest anthills in the world

It is quite logical to assume that large ants should have the largest anthill in the world. This is not true and its value does not always depend on this parameter. The larger the family, the larger. Sometimes the size of the nest reaches a height of 1.7 m and a diameter of 3 meters. The amount depends on the location where construction will take place.

For many species of ants, the presence of moisture and greenery is a fundamental factor. Such conditions for this exist in the Amazon delta, where it is humid, warm, a lot of vegetation, soft soil and a large amount of “building material”. Here there are families numbering up to 5 million or more individuals.

Sometimes there is a merger of anthills, spruces, they are located nearby. In such an anthill, the colony numbers up to 0.5 billion small and not very hardworking insects. also affects the size of the nest. But their family is less numerous and in nature there are ants that do not build nests at all.

Ants are one of the most common insects in the world. By some estimates, this family includes just over 12,400 species, with more than 4,500 subspecies. But this figure is not final and is constantly growing. Considering how many species of ants exist throughout the earth, many are interested in finding out which of them are found in Russia.

General introduction to ants

From a biological point of view, ants belong to the Hymenoptera. Their size varies depending on the type. These are social insects that live in colonies. They build their anthills from small particles in the soil or wood. These families are well organized and have good communication systems to ensure that all their actions are coordinated. Interestingly, some species of ants communicate in their own language, with the help of which they convey complex information. Most of them have symbiotic relationships with certain insects, plants, fungi and bacteria.

Each member of the colony knows their place and clearly fulfills their assigned role.

Females. These are the founders of the anthill. In most colonies there is only one female. She lays eggs so that her anthill constantly grows and replenishes.
Males. They are needed for fertilization of females.
Working individuals. Thanks to them, the anthill lives. They build a house, guard it, clean it, supply all the inhabitants with food, and take care of the larvae.

It is worth noting that males and females are equipped with wings, but worker ants do not have them. Also, some types of ants have a sting.

Lifestyle

After the female has been fertilized, she loses her wings and goes in search of a place where she will lay the foundation of her anthill of several rooms and lay eggs there. The male never survives. The queen feeds the larvae with saliva. The first “batch” of emerging workers begins to engage in construction and food production. After enough worker ants appear, the female only lays eggs, and the colony takes care of the larvae (white, helpless worms). After five molts, pupae form and stop feeding. Adult females and workers emerge from them. This process lasts throughout the growing season. Males are reborn only in spring.

The main diet is plant juice from aphid secretions. But at the moment when they take care of the larvae, the ants feed on other insects.

Ants: species in Russia and their characteristics

It is known that these insects are able to adapt to various conditions and colonize any landscape. But each individual species has its own characteristics, and this is connected not only with external characteristics. Each of them has their own differences in behavior and lifestyle. Therefore, if we learn more deeply about these insects, even those that live on our territory, they may seem no less interesting to us than those that live only in the tropics. It has already been mentioned how many species of ants there are in the world, so it is worth noting that more than 125 species of them are found in Russia. But in different sources this figure varies and sometimes reaches 300. The most familiar of them are red forest, meadow, pharaoh, house, termites, leaf cutters and others. Let's look at some types of ants. Photos of some insects will be included.

Red forest

For its habitat, this species chooses mixed, coniferous and deciduous forests that are more than 40 years old. Females and workers are distinguished by their red-brown color. Their length is approximately 7-14 mm. The head of this ant is oblong and the body is dense. Males have reddish or yellowish legs. Their families are single, divided into three castes. One nest can contain from 800 thousand to 1 million individuals. Mating flights begin from May to the end of June. The surprising thing is that only workers, males or females emerge from the eggs. It all depends on the needs of the family.

This type of ant can cause harm due to the fact that they breed aphids. But at the same time they also benefit the gardens. These insects destroy many pests that cause damage to crop plants. At the same time, ants pay special attention to those insects in which mass reproduction begins. It has been calculated that in a large anthill these insects can bring up to 21 thousand pest pupae in one day. Therefore, one such anthill is capable of protecting approximately a hectare of coniferous forest.

meadow ant

Another species common in Russia is the meadow one. The size of this insect varies between 5-11 mm. Meadow ants have a body covered with villi and a dark spot on the front of the chest. To build a house, they choose meadows, open edges and clearings. This species also breeds aphids. From the anthill to their “pastures” there are deepened paths, over which there are canopies. Ants walk along these paths for years. In addition to aphid secretions, these ant species feed on dead insects. They very rarely feast on live ones.

After winter, as soon as the air warms up to +10 degrees, they crawl out of the anthill. At a temperature of +30, insects do not leave their home. It was described above how many species of ants there are in the world, but of all of them, only these fly out to reproduce twice a season. They fall in May and August.

Pharaoh ant

This representative is one of the smallest ants. Their total length is 2-4 mm. They were first discovered in Egypt in tombs on mummies. Then Carl Linnaeus described them and gave them a name. This happened in 1758. Their small size helped these babies spread throughout the earth. They were spotted in Russia in 1889. This is how these types of ants gained fame. In the world they are found in almost every corner where there are people.

They are usually yellow in color and have a dark belly. Males are almost black and always winged. This species is very hardworking, and in the northern side they live exclusively in human houses. They prefer darkness and moisture, so they are more often found in cracks in floors, walls and other voids. Because they are always warm, they do not hibernate and their colonies are constantly growing. Usually their number is several thousand. In addition, they do not have to fly out to reproduce, and after fertilization, the workers bite off the wings of the queen. In just a year, the family grows by two thousand inhabitants. The nest is divided, and so they spread throughout the entire area, growing into huge colonies. It is difficult to fight them, since there may be more than one female in one place. It is interesting that bedbugs cannot get along with these inhabitants, since the acids that come from them are fatal to these bed pests.

House ant

These representatives are also among the smallest, their size ranges from 1 to 3 mm. The female and male are dark brown in color, and the working individuals are distinguished by their bright yellow color. These ants are called thieves. Their small size makes them almost invisible, and thanks to this they get along well near the anthills of other species. At the same time, they steal larvae and eggs from them in order to feed themselves. They can be found in and also on the southern side of the European part of the country.

black ant

This species is also one of the most common and often settles in human homes. Their color is usually black, but can be dark brown. The entire body of the insect is covered with small villi. Usually anthills are built in the soil, and there is a mound on top. They can also build their homes in wood and under boulders. Sometimes you can find a larger black ant - in this case you have come across another representative, it is called the reaper. This species is known for its tendency to store huge reserves in the anthill. They can collect about a kilogram of seeds and insects to successfully overwinter. It is interesting that, unlike other ants, they feed their larvae with plant food, and not insects.

But the types of ants that are found in Russia do not end there. For example, many people know wood borers that run along branches and collect honeydew on leaves, and establish their colonies in stumps or under the bark, gnawing passages. Also in the country there are some species of “Amazons” that do not give birth to workers, but steal larvae from more peaceful ants. The babies that are born think that the Amazons are their parents and begin to do all the “dirty” work for them.

The most dangerous types of ants: names and descriptions

There are two types of these insects that instill special fear in humans. But they are not found in Russia. These are the “bullet” and “soldier” ants (also known as The first species is found in forests stretching from Paraguay to Nicaragua. Its body length is 2.5 centimeters. It builds its anthill on a tree. Walking under it, you can get caught by this ant, which courageously jumps on a person to protect its colony from the enemy. These insects can scream and, before attacking, they call. It is called a “bullet” for a reason. Its bite is as piercing and painful as a bullet wound.

Soldier Ant

This is the second dangerous arthropod. It mainly lives in the Amazon, but its families can be found in Asia and Africa. These are large individuals, reaching 1.5 cm. They are also equipped with large mandibles (approximately 7-8 mm). These ants do not have a permanent anthill. They always roam, stopping only for that short period while the queen lays eggs. At this time, the soldiers are in search of food. When the larvae appear, the ants pick them up and continue on their way. The worst thing is that on their way they destroy all living things - insects, small and large animals - all those who did not want to hide or fell asleep. Hundreds of thousands of powerful soldiers cover the unwary victim like a wave. These ants are completely blind, so they regard everything as a threat to their colony. That is why they are not afraid of the size of animals.

These ants are an unusually united people. If necessary, they can create absolutely any shape from their bodies. For example, they make bridges so that the colony can overcome an obstacle, or walls against bad weather. To do this, they cling tightly to each other.

Enemies of ants

As we have seen, different types of ants have their own internal structure, which protects them and allows the colony to exist. But these insects also have enemies who love to feast on them. One of the largest ant pests is the bear. He regularly destroys anthills by putting his paws there. The ants “stick around” them, and the bear licks the treat. Moles and frogs also like to snack on these insects; they will not let a baby run past. In addition, many people know the animal called “anteater”. Its muzzle is specially adapted to fit into the homes of insects. In addition, he is not afraid of their bites, since the fur is so hard and thick that even small ants are not able to get through it. The meat of this animal smells very much of these insects and is black in color. But these are not the only enemies of ants, since they are hunted not only by mammals, but by birds and even fish.

Ant colonies

It’s hard to imagine that ants and termites make up about 20% of the weight of all life on Earth. These inconspicuous creatures number about 900 species and are second only to birds in their diversity. The internal structure and division of functional responsibilities in the anthill is striking in its expediency. They also have their own giants. The largest ants in the world live on the African continent. They reach more than 30 mm in length. The size of the colonies of these insects reaches several kilometers in diameter, and the number reaches several million.

Dinosaur ant

The largest ants in the world, living in Africa, are representatives of the genus Formicidae, subfamily Ponerinae - Dinoponera Roger. Besides them, the largest ants include Dinoponera gigantea, which are also called Dinosaur ants or Giant Amazonian ant. Representatives of this ant species were found only in South America.

Habits of ants

Ants eat a wide variety of foods, from plants to small insects and even, in some cases, their own kind. They navigate the area using a variety of smells. Moreover, they produce many odors themselves with the help of glands. It is with smells that ants mark their paths, which allows them to confidently navigate in space. But nature created glands for them not only for this purpose. Ants give each other many signals using smell. This includes anxiety, signals for defense, and communication between the queen of the anthill (queen) and her fellow tribesmen. They also mark with their secretions debris that needs to be removed from the anthill.

Movement is life

You will never see an ant in absolute peace. And this is because they never sleep! And here the proverb is 100% right that movement is life. They have another amazing feature. If we take the ratio of the weight of an ant’s brain to its total mass, then in this indicator it is much superior to a human. In addition, the ant is able to lift 20 times its own weight. This means that we would be lifting a weight of 1500 kg.