1.
Longhorn crazy ant
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The longhorn crazy ant is a species of small dark-coloured insect in the family Formicidae. These ants are commonly called crazy ants because instead of following straight lines and this species, as well as all others in the ant subfamily Formicinae, cannot sting. The worker longhorn crazy ant is about 2.3 to 3 mm long with a head, thorax, petiole and gaster. The body has a few short bristles and the antennae. It is easy to distinguish this ant from other members of its genus, Paratrechina, because its antennae, the first segment of each antenna is more than twice as long as the length between its base and the back edge of the head. The eyes are elliptical and set far back on the head, there is no sting, but the ant can bite and then curve its abdomen forwards and secrete formic acid onto the wound. A characteristic of this ant is the way that the move around jerkily in apparently random directions. The Paratrechina probably originated in the tropics of Africa and it has spread to temperate regions around the world and is now present in North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australasia. In the United States, it is present outdoors in much of the south east of the country and also indoors in buildings and warehouses in California, Arizona and the eastern seaboard. It is considered a pest, both agricultural and domestic, in most parts of the tropics and subtropics, and an indoor pest in temperate areas. It is said to be the most widespread species of ant in the world, colonies of longhorn crazy ants make their nests in a wide range of either dry or damp sites. These include inside hollow trees, under bark, in rotten wood, under logs or stones, among rubbish. They thrive in convenience stores, gas stations, apartment blocks, schools, the workers emerge to forage and the location of the nest can be identified by watching ants carrying food back to the colony. The ants are omnivorous and feed on seeds, dead invertebrates, honeydew, plant secretions, fruit, large food items may be moved by several ants working together. They consume honeydew predominantly in spring and autumn and may tend aphids, mealybugs, during the summer they preferentially seek a high protein diet. In buildings, they collect crumbs and the corpses found under lights. The longhorn crazy ant is able to invade new habitats and out-compete other species of ant, in 1991, in the large closed dome of the research station Biosphere 2 in the Arizona Desert, no particular ant species was dominant. By 1996, the longhorn crazy ant had virtually replaced all the other ant species and it fed almost exclusively on the honeydew secreted by the large numbers of scale insects and mealybugs present, and other invertebrates were greatly diminished
2.
Yellow crazy ant
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There is also a different genus of ant called crazy ants, Paratrechina. It is colloquially called crazy because of its erratic movements when disturbed and its long legs and antennae make it one of the largest invasive ant species in the world. Also known as the ant or Maldive ant, it is on a list of One Hundred of the Worlds Worst Invasive Species formulated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It has invaded ecosystems from Hawaii to Seychelles, and formed supercolonies on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, Anoplolepis gracilipes is a relatively large, yellow to orange ant with long legs, large eyes and extremely long antennal scapes. Although A. gracilipes is the invasive species in the genus Anoplolepis. Both Leptomyrmex and Oecophylla can be confused with Anoplolepis because of their similar sizes, Anoplolepis can be distinguished from Leptomyrmex by the presence of an acidopore. Anoplolepis can be distinguished from Oecophylla by the more compact petiole, although both of these genera occur in the Pacific, neither contain any invasive species. Several species of ants belonging to the genera Camponotus and Paratrechina can appear similar to A. gracilipes. Although several invasive species of Pheidole can also be slender-bodied with long legs and long antennal scapes, a. gracilipes is widespread across the tropics, and populations are especially dense in the Pacific region. The species is most infamous for causing the ecological meltdown of Christmas Island, the yellow crazy ant’s natural habitat is not known, but it has been speculated that the species originated in West Africa. It has been introduced into a range of tropical and subtropical environments including Caribbean islands, some Indian Ocean islands. The species has been known to occupy agricultural systems such as cinnamon, citrus, coffee, because the ant has generalized nesting habits, they are able to disperse via trucks, boats and other forms of human transport. Crazy ant colonies naturally disperse through “budding”, i. e. when mated queens and workers leave the nest to establish a new one, generally, colonies that disperse through “budding” have a lower rate of dispersal and need human intervention to reach distant areas. It has been recorded that A. gracilipes moves as much as 400 m a year in Seychelles, a survey on Christmas Island, however, yielded an average spreading speed of three meters a day, the equivalent of one kilometre a year. A. gracilipes has been described as a “scavenging predator” and has a broad diet and it consumes a wide variety of foods, including grains, seeds, arthropods, and decaying matter, including vertebrate corpses. They have been reported to attack and dismember invertebrates such as isopods, myriapods, molluscs, arachnids, land crabs, earthworms. Like all ants, A. gracilipes requires a food source for the queen to lay eggs. They get their carbohydrates from plant nectar and honeydew producing insects, especially insects, aphids
3.
Taxonomy (biology)
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Taxonomy is the science of defining groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared characteristics and giving names to those groups. The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the remains, the conception, naming. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy, the broadest meaning of taxonomy is used here. The word taxonomy was introduced in 1813 by Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, the term alpha taxonomy is primarily used today to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a value of acting as permanent stimulants. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a beta taxonomy, turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy, thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined beta taxonomy as the classification of ranks higher than species. This activity is what the term denotes, it is also referred to as beta taxonomy. How species should be defined in a group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy, by extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at higher taxonomic ranks, from subgenus and above only, than species. While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, earlier works were primarily descriptive, and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine. There are a number of stages in scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on criteria, the so-called artificial systems. Later came systems based on a complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as natural systems, such as those of de Jussieu, de Candolle and Bentham. The publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species led to new ways of thinking about classification based on evolutionary relationships and this was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler and Engler, the advent of molecular genetics and statistical methodology allowed the creation of the modern era of phylogenetic systems based on cladistics, rather than morphology alone. Taxonomy has been called the worlds oldest profession, and naming and classifying our surroundings has likely been taking place as long as mankind has been able to communicate
4.
Animal
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Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia. The animal kingdom emerged as a clade within Apoikozoa as the group to the choanoflagellates. Animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently at some point in their lives and their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later in their lives. All animals are heterotrophs, they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance, most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago. Animals can be divided broadly into vertebrates and invertebrates, vertebrates have a backbone or spine, and amount to less than five percent of all described animal species. They include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals, the remaining animals are the invertebrates, which lack a backbone. These include molluscs, arthropods, annelids, nematodes, flatworms, cnidarians, ctenophores, the study of animals is called zoology. The word animal comes from the Latin animalis, meaning having breath, the biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects, and humans. Aristotle divided the world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carl Linnaeus, in the first hierarchical classification. In Linnaeuss original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, in 1874, Ernst Haeckel divided the animal kingdom into two subkingdoms, Metazoa and Protozoa. The protozoa were later moved to the kingdom Protista, leaving only the metazoa, thus Metazoa is now considered a synonym of Animalia. Animals have several characteristics that set apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and they are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals. With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges and Placozoa and these include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals
5.
Arthropod
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An arthropod is an invertebrate animal having an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda, which includes the insects, arachnids, myriapods, arthropods are characterized by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, often mineralised with calcium carbonate. The arthropod body plan consists of segments, each with a pair of appendages, the rigid cuticle inhibits growth, so arthropods replace it periodically by moulting. Their versatility has enabled them to become the most species-rich members of all guilds in most environments. They have over a million described species, making up more than 80% of all described living species, some of which. Arthropods range in size from the microscopic crustacean Stygotantulus up to the Japanese spider crab, arthropods primary internal cavity is a hemocoel, which accommodates their internal organs, and through which their haemolymph – analogue of blood – circulates, they have open circulatory systems. Like their exteriors, the organs of arthropods are generally built of repeated segments. Their nervous system is ladder-like, with paired ventral nerve cords running through all segments and their heads are formed by fusion of varying numbers of segments, and their brains are formed by fusion of the ganglia of these segments and encircle the esophagus. The respiratory and excretory systems of arthropods vary, depending as much on their environment as on the subphylum to which they belong, arthropods also have a wide range of chemical and mechanical sensors, mostly based on modifications of the many setae that project through their cuticles. Aquatic species use internal or external fertilization. Almost all arthropods lay eggs, but scorpions give birth to live young after the eggs have hatched inside the mother, arthropod hatchlings vary from miniature adults to grubs and caterpillars that lack jointed limbs and eventually undergo a total metamorphosis to produce the adult form. The level of care for hatchlings varies from nonexistent to the prolonged care provided by scorpions. The evolutionary ancestry of arthropods dates back to the Cambrian period, the group is generally regarded as monophyletic, and many analyses support the placement of arthropods with cycloneuralians in a superphylum Ecdysozoa. Overall however, the relationships of Metazoa are not yet well resolved. Likewise, the relationships between various groups are still actively debated. Arthropods contribute to the food supply both directly as food, and more importantly indirectly as pollinators of crops. Some species are known to spread disease to humans, livestock. The word arthropod comes from the Greek ἄρθρον árthron, joint, and πούς pous, i. e. foot or leg, arthropods are invertebrates with segmented bodies and jointed limbs
6.
Insect
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Insects are a class of hexapod invertebrates within the arthropod phylum that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, including more than a million described species, the number of extant species is estimated at between six and ten million, and potentially represent over 90% of the differing animal life forms on Earth. Insects may be found in all environments, although only a small number of species reside in the oceans. The life cycles of insects vary but most hatch from eggs, insect growth is constrained by the inelastic exoskeleton and development involves a series of molts. The immature stages can differ from the adults in structure, habit and habitat, Insects that undergo 3-stage metamorphosis lack a pupal stage and adults develop through a series of nymphal stages. The higher level relationship of the Hexapoda is unclear, fossilized insects of enormous size have been found from the Paleozoic Era, including giant dragonflies with wingspans of 55 to 70 cm. The most diverse insect groups appear to have coevolved with flowering plants, adult insects typically move about by walking, flying or sometimes swimming. As it allows for rapid yet stable movement, many insects adopt a tripedal gait in which they walk with their legs touching the ground in alternating triangles, Insects are the only invertebrates to have evolved flight. Many insects spend at least part of their lives under water, with adaptations that include gills. Some species, such as water striders, are capable of walking on the surface of water, Insects are mostly solitary, but some, such as certain bees, ants and termites, are social and live in large, well-organized colonies. Some insects, such as earwigs, show maternal care, guarding their eggs, Insects can communicate with each other in a variety of ways. Male moths can sense the pheromones of female moths over great distances, other species communicate with sounds, crickets stridulate, or rub their wings together, to attract a mate and repel other males. Lampyridae in the beetle order communicate with light, humans regard certain insects as pests, and attempt to control them using insecticides and a host of other techniques. Some insects damage crops by feeding on sap, leaves or fruits, a few parasitic species are pathogenic. Some insects perform complex ecological roles, blow-flies, for example, help consume carrion, Many other insects are considered ecologically beneficial as predators and a few provide direct economic benefit. Silkworms and bees have been used extensively by humans for the production of silk and honey, in some cultures, people eat the larvae or adults of certain insects. Insect first appears documented in English in 1601 in Hollands translation of Pliny, translations of Aristotles term also form the usual word for insect in Welsh, Serbo-Croatian, Russian, etc. The evolutionary relationship of insects to other animal groups remains unclear, in the Pancrustacea theory, insects, together with Entognatha, Remipedia, and Cephalocarida, make up a natural clade labeled Miracrustacea
7.
Hymenoptera
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Hymenoptera is the third-largest order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 species are recognized, with many more remaining to be described, females typically have a special ovipositor for inserting eggs into hosts or otherwise inaccessible places. The ovipositor is modified into a stinger. The young develop through holometabolism —that is, they have a larval stage. The name Hymenoptera refers to the wings of the insects, all references agree that the derivation involves the Ancient Greek πτερόν for wing. The Ancient Greek ὑμήν for membrane provides an etymology for the term because this order like several others has membranous wings. However, a key characteristic of this order is that the wings are connected to the fore wings by a series of hooks. Thus, another plausible etymology involves Hymen, the Ancient Greek god of marriage, Hymenoptera originated in the Triassic, with the oldest fossils belonging to the family Xyelidae. Social hymenopterans appeared during the Cretaceous, the evolution of this group has been intensively studied by Alex Rasnitsyn, Michael S. Engel, G. Dlussky, and others. This clade has been studied by examining the mitochondrial DNA, although this study was unable to resolve all the ambiguities in this clade, some relationships could be established. The Aculeata, Ichneumonomorpha, and Proctotrupomorpha were monophyletic, the Megalyroidea and Trigonalyoidea are sister clades as are the Chalcidoidea+Diaprioidea. The Cynipoidea was generally recovered as the group to Chalcidoidea and Diaprioidea which are each others closest relations. The cladogram is based on Schulmeister 2003, hymenopterans range in size from very small to large insects, and usually have two pairs of wings. Their mouthparts are adapted for chewing, with well-developed mandibles, many species have further developed the mouthparts into a lengthy proboscis, with which they can drink liquids, such as nectar. They have large eyes, and typically three simple eyes. The forward margin of the hind wing bears a number of hooked bristles, or hamuli, the smaller species may have only two or three hamuli on each side, but the largest wasps may have a considerable number, keeping the wings gripped together especially tightly. Hymenopteran wings have relatively few veins compared with other insects. In the more ancestral hymenopterans, the ovipositor is blade-like, and has evolved for slicing plant tissues, in the majority, however, it is modified for piercing, and, in some cases, is several times the length of the body
8.
Ant
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Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from ancestors in the Cretaceous period, about 99 million years ago. More than 12,500 of an total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists. Larger colonies consist mostly of sterile, wingless females forming castes of workers, soldiers, nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called drones and one or more fertile females called queens. The colonies are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands, Ants thrive in most ecosystems and may form 15–25% of the terrestrial animal biomass. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study, many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rituals. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents and their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant, are regarded as invasive species, all of these words come from West Germanic *ēmaitijǭ, and the original meaning of the word was the biter. The family Formicidae belongs to the order Hymenoptera, which also includes sawflies, bees, Ants evolved from a lineage within the aculeate wasps, and a 2013 study suggests that they are a sister group of the Apoidea. In 1966, E. O. Wilson and his colleagues identified the remains of an ant that lived in the Cretaceous period. The specimen, trapped in amber dating back to around 92 million years ago, has found in some wasps. Sphecomyrma possibly was a ground forager, while Haidomyrmex and Haidomyrmodes, older ants in the genus Sphecomyrmodes have been found in 99 million year-old amber from Myanmar. After the rise of flowering plants about 100 million years ago they diversified and assumed ecological dominance around 60 million years ago. Some groups, such as the Leptanillinae and Martialinae, are suggested to have diversified from early primitive ants that were likely to have been predators underneath the surface of the soil, during the Cretaceous period, a few species of primitive ants ranged widely on the Laurasian supercontinent
9.
Formicinae
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The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development. Extreme modification of mandibles is rare, except in the genera Myrmoteras, however, some members show considerable evolutionary advancement in behaviors such as slave-making and symbiosis with root-feeding hemipterans. Finally, all formicines have very reduced stings and enlarged venom reservoirs, with the venom gland, all members of the Formicinae have a one-segmented petiole in the form of a vertical scale. Formicine ants have a single node-like or scale-like petiole and the apex of the abdomen has a circular or U-shaped opening, a functional sting is absent, and defense is provided by the ejection of formic acid through the acidopore. If the acidopore is concealed by the pygidium and difficult to discern, in most formicines, the eyes are well developed, the antennal insertions are not concealed by the frontal carinae, and the promesonotal suture is present and flexible. The tribal structure of Formicinae is not completely understood and this list follows the scheme at AntCat, but other schemes and names are used. Media related to Formicinae at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Formicinae at Wikispecies
10.
Nylanderia
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Nylanderia is a large genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution with species inhabiting a wide array of habitats in almost all geographic regions. Nylanderia, currently containing over 110 species, is an important genus. The ants are small to medium in size and range in color from yellow to black. The genus was first described as a subgenus of Prenolepis by Emery, wheeler raised Nylanderia to genus, where it remained until Brown provisionally placed it as a junior synonym of Paratrechina, a status which was later confirmed by Trager. Nylanderia was finally revived from synonymy and restored at the rank of genus by LaPolla, the genus currently comprises over 108 extant species and two fossil species, N. pygmaea from Eocene age Baltic amber and N. vetula from Miocene age Dominican amber. They found that Paratrechina was polyphyletic and segregated into three distinct, robust clades, Paratrechina, Paraparatrechina, and Nylanderia, the sister taxon to Nylanderia was found to be a clade containing three genera. The ants are found in all regions, but is notably absent from Europe. Species inhabit a wide array of habitats from deserts to rainforests, although they reach their highest species diversity in forested, Nylanderia species are among the most abundant ant species in many places where they occur. For example, Ward found that Nylanderia was the fifth-most frequently encountered ant genus in leaf-litter samples from around the world, several Nylanderia species have been reported as being tramps. For example, N. bourbonica and N. vaga are commonly encountered in the tropics and subtropics and have spread across large areas, infestations can involve smaller areas, although population sizes can be very large, as with N. pubens in the Caribbean. A Nylanderia species has invaded Texas and several states in Southeastern United States in a sudden. Several other species in the genus have also reported as introduced outside their native range, including N. clandestina, N. flavipes, N. fulva, N. guatemalensis. They are efficient and rapid foragers and often find resources first to which they can recruit rapidly, most are conspicuous, epigaeic generalist species that form large, polydomous nests. Frequent nest movements are known for species, especially those that nest in leaf litter. For example, N. bourbonica can nest opportunistically in temporary sites that are habitable for only a few days or weeks, the small colonies of N. faisonensis also inhabit ephemeral locations in the leaf litter or soil of hardwood forests. At least three currently undescribed workerless social parasites are known from the eastern United States, however, little is known about the reproductive biology of many Nylanderia species, especially those inhabiting the tropics. Cases of polygyny have been noted among Nylanderia species, but how widespread this condition is within the genus remains unclear, at least one species, N. flavipes, is somewhat unusual among ants in having populations that are both monogynous and polydomous
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. PMID 23056657.
