Doorhead ant

If you enjoyed this article, please consider making a gift to doorhead ant Ark In Space to continue to bring you fascinating features, photographs and videos.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Brandao et al. Wheeler , to describe a cryptic defensive technique employed by insects that use specially modified body structures to block nest entrances. Phragmotic-headed ants, for instance, prevent intruders from entering nests by blocking the entrances or by pushing them out of entrance galleries. Shield-like-headed soldiers and queens of the Neotropical myrmicine Cephalotes species of the pallens group appear to secrete a fibrous material from thousands of pores that resemble glandular openings, coating and eventually accumulating in a dense tangle of material over the head disk.

Doorhead ant

Species : ants from several genera, including Cephalotes and Carebara Habitat : trees in the tropical forest. Just wedge your head into the entryway of your home. Weird as it sounds, such traits have evolved again and again, in a specialised caste of species from at least eight ant genera — including two new species just discovered in Ivory Coast and Kenya. Only a single example of door head ant was discovered in Africa before this. That lone saucer-headed ant, picked out of leaf litter in Kenya, looked so different from its normal nest mates that it was wrongly assigned its own species. Now a team led by Georg Fischer at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Japan, has discovered further examples of this ant and fixed its classification. They also found another species of door head ant in Ivory Coast — meaning that Africa, which is chronically understudied, has at least two ant species from the genus Carebara in which workers act as living bulkheads. These ants were found dead in leaf litter samples. Intriguingly, they look much like the door head ants in the New World: ants from the tree-dwelling genus Cephalotes. Shaped like shields or hubcaps, Cephalotes heads are a perfect fit for the tunnels left over by wood-boring beetles in tree trunks. With such tunnels in short supply, invader ants and parasites find them attractive targets for raids, so the ants have to mount a defence. Parasites like phorid flies want to lay their eggs in the ants, while other ants merely want to steal the valuable real estate.

Upon arrival of intruder, P. More Read View source View history. Phragmotic-headed doorhead ant prevent intruders from entering nests by blocking the entrances, or by pushing them out of entrance galleries.

Ant colonies are broken into castes based on the size and sex of the individual ant. There are males that are only part of the colony for a short period of time, dying after mating. And there are workers, which can vary in size depending on their job. The biggest ants in the colony are the soldiers — the workers charged with defending the colony. But from species to species, not all soldiers make the best warriors. Just use your head.

Learn how to get rid of big headed ants with our comprehensive guide. Identify, understand their behavior, and find effective treatment options to keep them away. Big headed ants, scientifically known as Pheidole megacephala, are a common household pest found in many parts of the world. They are named after their distinctive large heads, which are used to store food and regulate the temperature of their bodies. These ants are primarily attracted to sweet and greasy foods and can cause damage to plants and property if left unchecked. In this article, we will provide a comprehensive guide on how to get rid of big headed ants. The first step in getting rid of big headed ants is to correctly identify them. Big headed ants are small, measuring between 1. They are usually light to dark brown in color and have a segmented body with three sections: the head, thorax, and abdomen.

Doorhead ant

Odontomachus brunneus is a species of ant in the subfamily Ponerinae , found in the southeastern United States , parts of Central America , and the West Indies. Ants of the genus Odontomachus are commonly called trap-jaw ants , due to the large, straight mandibles , which can be opened to degrees and snapped shut on prey. When sensory hairs on the inside of the mandibles are touched, the trap jaw is triggered.

Otobüs şoförü maaşı

That lone saucer-headed ant, picked out of leaf litter in Kenya, looked so different from its normal nest mates that it was wrongly assigned its own species. Stay Connected. Tools Tools. Make a monthly donation. Note central ridge, b. Ant colonies are broken into castes based on the size and sex of the individual ant. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia. ZooKeys : 77— Phragmotic-headed ants prevent intruders from entering nests by blocking the entrances, or by pushing them out of entrance galleries. No, these ants are not trying to outwit their foes, they literally use their shield-shaped heads. Myrmicinae - 6 genera, 13 species. In the study conducted by Jared et al. Researchers have noticed Door Head soldiers with chunks bitten off the edges of their heads as potential predators try their best to remove the defending ant …battle scars that are unfortunately par for the course when your job is to stick your head in a hole. Explore the latest news, articles and features. Allow cookies Cookies settings.

Smith Pheidole laevigata Mayr [1]. Pheidole megacephala is a species of ant in the family Formicidae. It is commonly known as the big-headed ant in the US and the coastal brown ant in Australia.

In one particular study, Scott Powell tested the hypothesis that "specialized use of cavities with entrances close to the area of one ant head has selected for a morphologically and behaviorally specialized soldier in Cephalotes. Possible causes:. We'll also keep you up to date with New Scientist events and special offers. Image Credit Wikimedia Commons. PMC Contents move to sidebar hide. Unexpectedly these covering materials appeared to be produced by the ants, rather than an accumulation of material that was affixed and somehow binded to the head disk. Life Stunning slo-mo videos show how insects survive raindrop collisions. Because ants within Cephalotes use multiple carved nesting cavities found in the trees upon which they live, a cohort of morphologically specialized soldiers has evolved to defend these nesting cavities. Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Articles using diversity taxobox Articles with 'species' microformats Commons category link is on Wikidata.