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Army Ants What eats every animal in its path, raids other ant colonies, and migrates to find more food? An army ant colony! Army ants are amazing creatures! Not only have they founded nests, developed a social hierarchy, and migrated to other areas, but they also have a very interesting life cycle and colony structure. TAXONOMY
Kingdom: Animalia NESTS
HIERARCHY
MIGRATION
Army ants kill and eat up to 100,000 animals in a day. Together they can kill lizards, snakes, chickens, pigs, goats, scorpions, and many other animals. They also climb trees and eat birds plus insects that may live in trees. DESCRIPTION
LIFE CYCLEegg - larva - pupa - adult
Egg: The eggs are microscopic and white or yellowish in color. Larva: The larva do not have eyes or legs and develop into pupa. Pupa: The larva builds a cocoon around itself and changes into the pupa. The pupa is a relatively non-mobile stage. Adult: When an individual leaves its cocoon, it is now an adult ant and belongs to a caste. CREDITS
swarm.gif - http://www.ex.ac.uk/bugclub/raiders.html Army Ant Page Created By: Golby Saroay Insecta Inspecta Class of 1999
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Army ant colonies consist of the queen, the
queen’s brood (her eggs), soldiers, and the workers. army ants are nomadic, which means that
they must make temporary nests as they travel. The nest is made up of Army ants
themselves. They form walls and fasten onto each other by using their mandibles (jaws) and
their claws. This way they can hang from a log or another surface, while the nest encloses
the queen and her brood. They are referred to as bivouacs, which is a cluster of ants.
Chambers and corridors do exist in army ant nests. Also, prey is being brought inside the
nest and the eggs are being transported to other areas in the nest as well.
The main
castes in an army ant hierarchy are queens, workers and soldiers. In the hierarchy, the
queen ant lays eggs the whole day. The large soldiers focus on defense, the medium size
workers do the foraging, and the smallest workers tend the queen’s brood. Since the
workers in the colony are sterile females, they cannot lay eggs or start their own
colonies.
Because
of their large colony size, army ants migrate in order to find food. They may 
Like many other insects, the body of an army ant has a head, thorax
and abdomen. The head has a mouth, eyes and antennae. The mouth has two jaws called
mandibles that are like scissors. Still, army ants can only swallow liquids because the
solids form a ball that the ant spits out. Unlike other ants, army ants do not have
compound eyes, but instead have single eyes (but they are still blind). Army ants use their
antennae to sense smell and touch. This is how they know which colony and nest they belong
to. They use their antennae to communicate as well. The thorax is connected to the head by
joints called nodes. The thorax is between the head and abdomen. It is connected
to the abdomen by a narrow waist called the petiole. The abdomen is in the shape of an
oval. That is where the stomach, large intestine, sting, etc. are located.