Distribution, Species, Lifespan, Size and prevention
Ants are amongst the most cosmopolitan and successful insects on Earth. They are highly social, incredibly strong and supremely adaptable, which has enabled them to occupy virtually every terrestrial environment. In this article, you can find ants clipart pics,
and even more importantly I will give you information about the place where ants live, types of ants that exist in general, their age and size limits ( oldest living ant and one of the biggest soldier ant on earth)Note: I did NOT include information on how to control these creatures since there are already articles on how to kill them around.
HOW MANY SPECIES OF ANTS ARE THERE?
There are approximately 12,000 known species of ants, and researchers believe the total may be upwards of 22,000. They are divided into several genera and subfamilies. Some common types include:
Carpenter Ants Large ants that bore into wood also.
Fire Ants: Infamous for their sting that hurts.
Bulldog Ants:
Notorious for their aggression and ancestral attributes.
Army Ants -Domanyic fighting ants best known for their raiding columns.
Leafcutter Ants: Cultivate fungus on gathered leaves.
Household/Garden Ant: Very common in the home and garden.
How Long Do Ants Live?
Aren’t the lifespans of ants all over the place depending on their caste and species:
Worker Ants: Generally survive only several months to a few years. Workers of many species are short-lived, at 1-3 years.
Queen Ants: Live an astoundingly long time, even for an insect. They are the oldest individuals in the colony. Queens of different species may live 5–15 years, with some queens living up to 30 years in ideal conditions.
How Big Can Ants Get?
There are ants of all sizes, from minuscule to quite large:
The smallest ants (e.g. Carebara sinaica, Discothyrea mayri) are close to 0.75 mm in length.
The Queen of the Driver Ant (Dorylus sp) is the biggest currently living ant in existence. (lines), which may attain a length of 5 cm (2 inches).
The largest ant on record was Titanomyrma giganteum, a fossil species which had queens up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long from head to thorax, with wings that spanned as much as 15 cm.
How Do We Keep Ants Away?
(Prevention and Control)
Though most ants are relatively harmless, they can infest our homes, spoil food or even disrupt structures. Here’s how to manage them:
Sanitation: Keep kitchens clean. Clean up spills, store food in airtight containers and take out the trash. This removes their primary attraction.
Seal Entry Points: Use caulk to seal any cracks or crevices in the foundation and gaps around windows, doors, or utility pipes.
Do Away With Attractants: Clean pet bowls for food, repair leaking pipes and clear puddled water.
Deterrents from nature: Diatomaceous earth, lemon juice, vinegar, cinnamon or peppermint oil can work like a sequel in the ants’ line.
Baits and Insecticides: Ant bait is an excellent solution for infestations. The worker ants take the poisoned bait back to the nest, killing the queen and colony. Apply chemical insecticides judiciously and only as a last resort.
Professional Help: If you’re dealing with Carpenter Ants or a severe infestation, seek help from a pest control professional.
What season are ants most active?
Ant activity is highly seasonal:
Spring to summer: This is when they are most active. Warmer temperatures also stimulate foraging, mating flights (nuptial flights are frequent after rains in the spring/summer), and colony growth. You spot them most frequently at these seasons.
Autumn: Activity rises significantly when they forage heavily to put aside food for the winter.
Winter: In colder regions, most species of ants hibernate and survive underground in their colonies. They can stay active year-round in warmer temperatures outside and with heating indoors.
The Incredible Ant Living :The Astonishing Empire of the Ants\nUNDERGROUND Edition\[ INTRODUCTION I.\ THE MARVELS OF AN ANT-HILL Underneath a log, among oak leaves shining after a storm, not far from an old fence behind which Corn Indian was being pushed.
Look down. More likely than not, right at this moment you are standing among one of the most complex, brutal and triumphant empires that has ever been brought under nature’s flag.
Ants are not simply bugs; they are the architects of our ecosystems, the invisible workforce of the planet, living proof of the incalculable raw power in numbers. Now let’s go down into their subterranean realm.
Where on Earth Do They Rule? (Global Dominion)
Forget any idea that ants are merely picnic crashers. Their empire is global. You’ll see them in just about every terrestrial habitat there is. But as to numbers and sheer diversity, the prize goes to tropical rainforests.
The Powerhouse Regions: The Amazon Basin in South America, the Congo Basin in Africa and the rainforests of Southeast Asia are ant mega-cities. Here, in this warm, steamy climate everything is bursting with life. There could be more than 8 million ants from thousands
of species in a single hectare of Amazonian soil. They comprise something like 15-20% of the entire terrestrial animal biomass in these areas—if you were to weigh all land animals, a significant proportion of that weight would be ants!
Closer to Home: They’re not all just exotic creatures, though. An average British garden holds around 50,000 ants. They are even more skivers of the soil than earthworms in North America. They flourish in deserts (like the honey pot ants that stash nectar in their own bodies),
swamps and even in cracks of busy city sidewalks. In fact, where they don’t occur is more conspicuous than where they do—only the frozen tundras of Antarctica and some isolated islands are ant-free.
A Glorious Family Tree: The Millions of Species
Attempting to enumerate ant species is like trying to count stars in a perpetually expanding universe. More than 12,000 species have been formally described,
but the true number could be as high as 22,000 species say myrmecologists (the ants are scientists who study this kind of thing). There are approximately 300 genera. Relatively speaking, there are approximately 2.5 million or so ants for every one human upon the planet Earth.
Here’s a sampling at their amazing diversity:
The Farmers (Leafcutter Ants) On the American continents, these ants do not eat leaves — they farm with them, using them as manure to grow fields and fields of delicious fungus, hidden away in extensive underground gardens. Their colonies comprise millions of individuals, are so intricate they include their own waste disposal chambers and feature specialised gardener castes.
The Nomads (Army & Driver Ants) [The shyakim]: From the sands of Africa to the jungles of the Amazon these terror legends never rest. They have no permanent home. Instead, the tens of millions of swarm together into roving “bivouacs” made out of their massed bodies
and go out in raiding columns, eating any insect or small creature unfortunate enough to get stuck in their path. Their queens are ants’ behemoths.
The Stingers (Fire Ants): South American invaders who have made their mark on the American south — and elsewhere in the world. Their synchronized, fiery stings are a powerful defense and an uncomfortable annoyance for humans.
The Woodworkers (Carpenter Ants): Enter for where they live, not what they eat. They bore sleek galleries in damp wood where they nest, which can do major structural damage to homes.
Commoners (Black Garden Ants): The classic back yard ant. Their drab, small colonies are a lesson in perseverance and often the place where we first get to know ant society.
The Queen’s Secret: Extraordinary Lifespan
In the world of ants, fate is sealed at birth. It is all about your role in the lifespan.
The Disposable Army (Workers) These sterile females are the heart, hands and backbone of the colony. They live short, hard lives. A minor worker may last a few weeks or up to a year, giving her life for the colony’s roving and fighting, nurturing. Major workers, or “soldiers” could live a little longer, 1-3 years.
The Royal Reserve (Queens) Here’s where nature does its wonder. The only job of a queen ant is the colony’s breeding work, and it is constructed to endure. Once she has mated, she can lay millions of eggs in a lifetime that may last for decades.
A big fat common garden ant queen can live for 10-15 years. But the real queens are those of big, perennial species (like Leafcutter Ants), which can rule from 20 to 30 years in the security of deep chambers. Think of a one insect living from the 1990s to now!
Extremes of Size: From Speck to Giant
Ant scale is mind-bending.
The Tiny: There are some species, such as the pharaoh ant, that can be just 2mm long and could easily pass for a crawling piece of dirt.
The Modern Giant: The honor for the largest living ant goes to the Queen of the African Driver Ant (Dorylus sp.). She is a grotesque sausage-shaped, egg-laying-machine that can be up to a staggering 5 centimeters (2 inches) long.
The Ancient Titan If you want to understand ant potential, fossils are where we look. The prehistoric ant Titanomyrma, which buzzed the skies 50 million years ago,
had queens that measured over four times the body length of its workers at around 6 cm (2.4 in), and it could boast a wingspan similar to that of some modern hummingbirds. That is the oldest age that has been recorded in ant history.
Life in the Empire: Secular Strategies for Coexistence & Prevention
There is no getting rid of ants on this planet, nor should we wish to: They aerate the soil, disperse seeds and keep pest populations in check. But we can definitely encourage them to sit outside.
The Golden Rule: Keep on the Trail. Ants are chemists. They mark food by laying invisible scent trails. Disrupt the trail and you disrupt the invasion. A 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water sprayed along their path and entry points (windowsills, door frames) will eliminate the chemical highways they use to navigate and discourage any more from returning.
Seal the Castle: Fill in cracks around foundations, gaps on utility lines even under doors with silicone caulk. To an ant, a gap the width of a pencil is a motorway.
Starve Them Out: No way around this one. Wipe the counter, sure, but with vinegar. Sugar, honey and pet food should be stored in glass or thick plastic containers with airtight lids. Take out the trash regularly. An ant has a stronger sense of smell than a dog.
Choose Your Weapons Wisely:
For a visible contrail: That’s your front-line vinegar spray.
For the unseen colony: Gel or station baits. The ants bring this poisoned “food” back to the core of the nest, effectively poisoning it from its core. This is the best tactical approach.
Physical Barriers: A line of diatomaceous earth (a fine powder that cuts their exoskeleton), cinnamon, or powdered citrus peels can create a no-ant’s-land at entry points.
When to Tap Out: If you spot big (over 1cm) black or brown ants meandering around inside, especially after dark, you might be dealing with Carpenter Ants. This isn’t a DIY job. Call a professional. The nest is almost certainly in your structural wood, and you need expertise to find it.
Seasonal Surges: When the Empire Booms
Ant activity mirrors the changing seasons.
Spring: (The Awakening) Colonies become active as their homes warm. This is also “nuptial flight” season. You’ll see winged “reproductives” swarming. These future queens and kings are on their mating flights. Males die after mating, and so-called queens drop their wings once they’re ready to start a new empire.
Summer (Peak Activity)It’s their peak season. Foraging is nonstop to support the burgeoning brood. It’s also when they’re most likely to be looking for moisture and food in our homes during droughts.
Autumn (The Great Stockpile): A crazy time of foraging and fattening up the colony before winter. Indoor invasions can spike as they search for shelter and food.
Winter (The Deep Sleep) Description: In zones with moderate temperatures, ants will retreat into the lowest chambers of their nests and become dormant; the cluster together for warmth. By contrast, your warm house provides a perfect tropical paradise for them all year.
Final Thought
Ants inspire lessons in resilience, architecture, warfare and farming so enormous that we can barely understand them.
Next time you spot the single scout on your kitchen counter, take a moment to consider: she is just the tip of an enormous, ancient and inconceivably complex iceberg. Mind your manners, sweep up your crumbs, close off your borders and gaze at the tiny empire just beyond your doorstep.