Talk:Ant

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Article Grading: The following comments were left by the quality and importance raters: (edit · refresh) The section Ant cooperation and competition should be expanded, maybe even moved to its own page. There is definitely enough to write about for that. Also, parts of the article are a bit messy, with bulleted lists mingling with text and photos. Maybe some parts should be re-written to flow better. IronChris | (talk) 05:13, 14 November 2006 (UTC) Citations need to be added and section structure and layout needs improvement. Section on taxonomy and phylogeny needed. Shyamal 11:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC) Have removed all bullets and have added citations for numerous factoids. Have attempted some improvement in the flow. Hope it is better than before. Shyamal 04:55, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject Echo has identified Ant as a foreign language featured article. You may be able to improve this article with information from the French language Wikipedia.

Ant is included in the 2006 Wikipedia CD Selection, or is a candidate for inclusion in the next version. Please maintain high quality standards and, if possible, stick to GFDL-compatible images.

Contents 1 stinger??? 2 deleted text 3 Ants keeping other insects as 'pets' 4 Ants FAQ to Wikipedia? 5 Ants in initiaiton rites 6 Cleanup 7 Chalk 8 "Lennigan vs. the Ants" a short story. 9 OtherUses template 10 Ant Smell 11 Ants as food 12 Killer Ants 13 Pest Removal 14 Origin of ants 15 Lost content 16 Deadly Ants 17 Division of labor 18 Wikipedia version 0.5 19 Biomass 20 Ant lifespan 21 Identifying Ants 22 GREAT ARTICLE !! 23 slapslime needs help 24 Finding way home 25 Ants! Nature's Secret Power 26 Morphology 27 Congratulations 28 Using domesticated animals 29 Ants as first name 30 Sugar Ants 31 Graphic near "relationships with other species" header 32 This page has been vandalized.

[edit] stinger???

the pictured ant has a stinger on it's posterior, to the best of my knowledge this is not right. they bite then squirt acid at the scratch i think, it's not really a proper stinger like that of a wasp or bee. (unsigned question posted by user:Cadmiumcandy)

I believe you'll find it is a vestigial remnant of wasp heritage.

He is completely correct. It is a picture, not like he added a stinger on its "posterior"! Duh dude.

Many ants have completely functional stingers, it is not "vestigial" at all. Anyone who has ever stepped in a fire ant mound will tell you: you get stung. MANY times. Dyanega 20:43, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] deleted text

If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant brain has about 250,000 brain cells and a human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human. Interesting because humans are about 7.5 billion times as large as ants, yet are brains are only 40 thousand times as big.

.. i actually found it interesting LadyofHats 14:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Ants are certainly one of the freakiest creatures on Earth. 18.252.5.157 08:07, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Stuff like "an ant can lift many times its own body weight" or "if a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse" is in some senses a hoax. All this can easily be explained by using the laws of physics, and an ant the size of a dog would be so weak it would have problems just to walk (but it would die from the lack of oxygen long before that point). 217.68.114.116 12:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

One of my updates, that the combined mass of all ants on earth is greater than the combined mass of all humans on earth, was deleted as "nonsense" and "vandalism" by fisherqueen. However, this is a sure fact, I just don't have the citations for it. Does anyone have a reference? -wazawak

[edit] Ants keeping other insects as 'pets'

Computer scientist and author Rudy Rucker says in his fiction book The Hacker and the Ants that some ants keep other insects in their nests as 'pets' but does not back up this assertion. Does anyone know if this is true? Would it add interest to this article if shown to be true?

Greg 05:45, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

If true, yeah... although I have a hard time believing it could be true. Maybe he's just being colorful about the ant/aphid relationship? --Allen 13:11, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

This is TRUE. Ants do keep other insects as "pets", mainly as "livestock" to get honeydew. Aphids and some scale insects are what is kept to get this honey-like substance. Martial Law 06:01, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ants FAQ to Wikipedia?

Hello all. I was wondering if there should be an ants FAQ like http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/read/AntsFAQ.txt ... I would like to convert to add to this Wikipedia for it. Is it possible? What do you guys think?

[edit] Ants in initiaiton rites

The Humans and Ants section ends with the sentence:

            Others use ant bites in initiation ceremonies as a test of endurance.

Can anyone provide a specific reference/link for this?

Uh, I can think of one offhand... It was called "Stranger than Fiction, Killer Bugs"... or something like that. I remember reading it as a young child, a book of interesting killer bug facts and what-not.

--Cje 13:26, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

Could someone with a knowledge of ants please fix this mess? Wyllium 15:06, 2004 Oct 15 (UTC)

The paragraph on colonies should be moved to the entry on ant colonies, shouldn't it? Etxrge 08:00, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

It doesn't make much sense to talk about the reproduction or behavior of ants without describing colonies...

I'm not a biologist, but it appears that the ant-eating caterpillars are in a predatory relationship with the ants, not a symbiotic one. Is there an appropriate technical title for this section? Czyl

Im not a biologist eather, but i beleave it would depend on the region. ( Now im speculating ) such as a city witch might have smaller ants and smaller, fewer caterpillars might be a symbotic. whare as in a suburb whare everything is placed togather the ants might be more preditory. Dagbiker 16:58, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chalk

I've heard that ordinary chalk can be used to keep ants at bay- apparently, for some unknown reason they refuse to cross it. Google references: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

I found this fascinating, and added it to the 'Humans and Ants' section as another method of dealing with ants. If anyone knows a biological reason for this behaviour, or can develop on it, please do. --Psyk0 13:04, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I assume it would be because the high calcium content of the chalk absorbs the ants' communication pheromones, thereby making a chalk-line an "void space" in the pheromone trail that ants leave when foraging. capnmidnight 11:49, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Lennigan vs. the Ants" a short story.

Can anyone tell me where to find the story or be able to provide a copy? I remember reading it and it was very good. Anyone??? -G

Lennigan vs. The Ants...does anyone know the author? On the web I've discovered several folks all asking the smae question, including librarians.

The author of this story is CARL STEPHENSON, and the name of the story is actually "Leiningen versus the Ants". A search should turn up this story on dozens of web sites. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lvta.html, http://www.bygosh.com/Features/012003/leiningenvsants.htm, http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/Ants.html are a few to get you started.

Believe me, my search turned up nothing. Hence my cry for help, and it has been answered. I thank you.-G

Do ants really bite? Don't they spray or pee? Can someone help me clear this up, please?

Yes, they do really bite, some sting, and there are really agressive ants that will kill you. See Re.: Killer Ants below. Martial Law 21:30, 22 April 2006 (UTC) :)

[edit] OtherUses template

Please change the article to use Template:OtherUses instead of Template:otheruses it currently uses. The OtherUses template has information about the contents of the article.

{{OtherUses|info=information about the contents of the article}}

For a sample use of this template refer to the articles Alabama or Algiers--—The preceding unsigned comment was added by DuKot (talk • contribs) .

Note that that functionality is now at {{otheruses1}}. {{OtherUses}} redirects to {{otheruses}}, and is deprecated.--Srleffler 18:41, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ant Smell

I have heard that only one in three people can smell the smell that is produced when ants are crushed or killed. Does anyone have any information about this.

This depends on which species you are talking about... Some species, like Lasius fuliginosus, don't need to be crushed - their colonies emit a "sweet" smell. Other species don't smell at all when crushed.

My mom can smell regular little black ants when they are dead. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 04:17, 23 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ants as food

I have added a new subsection in the section Humans and ants. I will in future do some research, but if anyone wants to contribute first, please do. I know that in Santander, Colombia ants are eaten. I have myself. They are called hormigas culonas --Francisco Valverde 17:38, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Killer Ants

On 4-22-06, at 3pm EST/EDT, the Discovery Channel has aired a program called Killer Ants. Featured ants are the Army ants, Bulldog ants, and a really agressive ant called "Jack Jumpers". See the Discovery Channel article for more info about these ants on their website related to what they show on TV. Martial Law 21:27, 22 April 2006 (UTC) :)

[edit] Pest Removal

A paragraph or two on effective ways to kill, or remove ants would be appreciated.

I think I can cover this, using an article I wrote about how to get rid of ants. I've started work on the section, and though it needs some work, I think it's good progress. I know I dropped an external link in there to my own research on the matter, but I'm wondering if there are other more "institutionalized" sources about ant control. --[[User:Samoya|Samoya]] 18:15, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Origin of ants

As we know, the ants evolved from some wasp ancestor. But what kind of wasp? What we know about ants; their colonies were probably primary made by burrow in the soil, they evolved from a predatory species that did not built comb cells and they evolved from a solitary wasp. Just a theory; a parasitic wasp with a sting to paralyze its victims (like many ants are still doing) made burrows in the ground where the paralyzed victim was dragged into, and laid egg there. To make sure the offspring had something to feed on. In the end, this ancestor used a single burrow only (instead of making a new each time), where all the prey was brought to her and her eggs/larvae. Because she lived in the same hole as her offspring, overlapping generations was a result. After she had mated and made her burrow, she eventually lost her wings. The reason for this was probably because she had specialized on capturing ground living prey. And because she lived under and often on the ground herself, she sacrified her wings to become a more effective hunter in the nivhe she was living, hunting on other small arthropods near her burrow. To do this, she used her eyes, since that's how flying wasps often find their prey, and like bulldog ants still do (and where there is very little difference between the workers and the queen). As more advanced species evolved and they became truly social, many started to use chemical senses instead and the mother stopped hunting and took the role as an egg layer only, while her offspring took care of the food collection. And since then, they are continued to explore the ground, the trees and other niches.

[edit] Lost content

Apparently, quite a bit of content was lost when an anonymous user removed the Taxobox and the references and external links (30 May 2006). If I read the revision history correctly, this content has only partially been reconstructed. Is this intentional? — Tobias Bergemann 13:16, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deadly Ants

Besides the well known Army Ants, there are the Bullet Ants, the "Jack Jumpers", which are really agressive ants, then there are the "Saifu" Ants. All were featured on the Discovery Channel's show Killer Ants, which aired 6-17=06 @ 14:30 CST/CDT. The first two live in Australia, and killed people there, the latter lives in Africa and will kill and eat HUMANS and done so. Martial Law 06:05, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Division of labor

In the article it says that ants follow pathways of strong scents and that they teach each other new routes by following..

I've observed an ant nest, and I've noticed that when a new, strong and strange scent is dropped in the middle of a main pathway on a rock, there will appear in 5 mins a nest maintainter or two with a speficic task to clean up obstacles in the vicinity of my object. The object cause every passing ant to stop and it disrupted the traffic. The maintainers will drag small stones 5 cm away from the pathway until they have found my object. The object was sticky and hard to move (slime), and after the first maintainer failed to move it, though I didn't watch the whole time, the object had been turned so that it no longer blocked the pathway. How can the ants form spesific sub-tasks under the general division of castes? How can they put the info forward about a location of an obstacle? How can they communicate the nature of tasks? Teemu Ruskeepää 16:59, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

---

I seem to remember hearing that soldier ants constantly monitor the worker ants and will kill any that are not working or are putting out the wrong pheromone. Could someone include something on this with a reference? Also, what happens if a soldier is not putting out the correct pheromone? Jbottoms76 19:32, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia version 0.5

I moved it into held nominations because it has 2 section stubs. So it failed on quality. Maybe later, after improving those sections, you could nominate it again. Thanks. NCurse _work 21:26, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Biomass

The figure for percent biomass needs a reference. Currently it says up to 15%, the best source I can find suggests even higher. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/26/14028

[edit] Ant lifespan

After a brief perusal through the aritcle, I saw no mention of general or specific ant lifespan. --Stux 17:49, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Covered. Shyamal 04:11, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Identifying Ants

Last summer, I had a problem with these tiny ants. Whenever I'd kill one with my hand, I notice they left this really pungent stink. While I haven't seen them since then, I was wondering if anyone knew what type of ant I was referring to? Prey 02:22, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] GREAT ARTICLE !!

someone should nominate this article for featured status

[edit] slapslime needs help

i just created an account and dont know much about graphics can someone tell me how to add pictures and do cool stuff like that

p.s. (i am also a junior programer)Slapslime 15:08, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

first things first this discussion page is about the article only, posts like that will probably get deleted by mods. go to the help page, and go through the tutorials. if you want to upload a picture you just have to go to special:upload it's fairly straightforward Paskari 15:54, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Finding way home

I have serious doubts on this issue "Home is typically located through the use of remembered landmarks and the position of the sun as detected with compound eyes and also by means of special sky polarization-detecting fibers within the eyes." I don't think ants have memory. if they did they wouldn't need phermones, they'd remember the way to the food source. and how would the position of the sun help? Paskari 15:54, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Interesting point. I looked for references and found that ants do work with a lot with visual landmarks and added the needed citations. The article does need cite sources and avoid being questionable. Shyamal 04:48, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ants! Nature's Secret Power

On Ants! Nature's Secret Power, Discovery Science, Directtv#284, I do think that I'd heard that humans & ants {regarding aphids} are the two species most likely to keep domesticated herds.

Thank You.

[[ hopiakuta | [[ [[%c2%a1]] [[%c2%bf]] [[ %7e%7e%7e%7e ]] -]] 19:48, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Morphology

Some of the information in the morphology part is not specific, but includes insects in generel. In my opinion it should be deleted. And does ants really lack a heart? 217.68.114.116 12:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Congratulations

To all concerned - this is a great article! 86.136.27.113 16:14, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Using domesticated animals

I added the following text: "Ants are the only species besides humans that keep domesticated animals-namely mealybugs and aphids. It is a win-win situation where ants protect them and move them to sweeter plant parts to gain energy from their honeydew and secretions." I think this is a very important statement because they are one of two creatures to do so. Please consider readding this statement to the article. 68.17.204.58 20:05, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I removed it because the information on tending of aphids is already mentioned. Domestication generally involves selective breeding and control of reproduction. Aphids live and breed quite independently and can fly around. The scientific term for a win-win situation is mutualism/commensalism or symbiosis. If this is called domestication, then there are more species that be claimed to do this. There is a nice review on the Evolution of agriculture in insects. [6]. Many popular articles may try to make the information more interesting by using such anthropocentric terms. So it would be best to include such information only with a suitable reference. Shyamal 02:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I got this informtaion from an Animal Planet television program: "Ants! - Nature's Secret Power". [7] 68.17.204.58 02:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok. Interesting, but a half-truth to create greater interest I am afraid. Shyamal 03:31, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ants as first name

Ants is also Estonian first name. This means not insects, but is the Estonian counterpart for German first name Hans. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 193.40.110.66 (talk) 15:26, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Sugar Ants

These things are small black colored ants that invade the house. They're about the size of the letter "l" presented here. Had them once. Raid works well on them. Martial Law 00:13, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

A bug expert ID-ed them for me. Martial Law 00:14, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Graphic near "relationships with other species" header

The graphic says 'Polymesia.' There's no such thing as Polymesia. Polymesia does not exist. There is no wiki article on it. There is no article on it anywhere. Polymesia is a fiction; get over it. GET OVER IT, IT'S POLYNESIA!!!

Yes, I also think it should be 'Polynesia'. But since it seems to be an honest mistake, please try to be a little more civil. +A.Ou 04:26, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Fixed I hope. Shyamal 03:51, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This page has been vandalized.

I only have a highschool education, but I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as "cookie crisp ants" or "fatass ants". (70.181.188.194 08:36, 13 March 2007 (UTC))

Really nice to see critical reading. The fatass ant appears to be true though, citation added. Not sure about the other but the fact remains that ants are eaten. :) Shyamal 03:52, 15 March 2007 (UTC)