5 Types Of Ants
Formicids are social insects, close relatives of bees and wasps, but they have evolved differently. In this article we will tell you what are some of the types of ants that live on our planet.
How many types of ants are there?
Distributed throughout the planet, with the exception of Antarctica, Greenland, Polynesia and Iceland, it is estimated that there are more than ten thousand billion of this insect living on Earth. Among the current types of ants we can highlight:
1. Leafcutter ant
It is not a single species … but 47! All of them are considered ‘leaf cutters’ (photo that opens this article). They live in tropical areas and, although they have many common characteristics, they differ mainly in the pairs of spines and in the type of exoskeleton.
They can form very complex societies, even more so than human ones. They create underground nests up to 30 meters wide that can hold eight million individuals. Of course, they are commanded by a female and most of the specimens are sterile workers.
They are known as leaf cutters because that is their main task outside the colony. With these they ‘feed’ the fungi to later obtain food for the larvae. Without a doubt, it is a more than beneficial relationship for both parties.
2. Carpenter ant
They owe their name to the fact that they build their nests using wood, so they are a danger in houses made with this material that are not properly maintained or disinfected. They can be reddish or black in color, have three pairs of legs and there are only a few with wings.
It is one of the types of ants that only inhabit one subcontinent, precisely in North America. Each colony establishes a queen, who fertilizes the eggs in a cavity in the wood and feeds the larvae with saliva. Then the workers are born and are in charge of this task. Each population can be made up of up to 2,000 female workers.
3. Fire ant
Better known as the red ant, it is a genus that includes about 280 species worldwide. One of its main characteristics is that its bite is poisonous and causes both irritation and pain. There are people who are allergic to this poison and can experience severe immune reactions.
It is one of the most popular types of ants and forms colonies in the form of large mounds of earth with ‘doors’ at the top. It feeds on cockroaches, crickets, seeds, and plants. Colonies can be founded by one or two queens and in a few months have millions of individuals. A breeding female can lay… 1,600 eggs in a single day!
4. Argentine ant
This species is native to Argentina, although it can also be found in other South American countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It has even been introduced as far away as Japan, Norway or Hawaii.
The Argentine ant is considered a pest and invasive because it destroys colonies of native species. A nest of this insect is commanded by several queens, who lay about 30 eggs a day each. The copulation with the males takes place within the ‘home’ and, upon completion, they die.
5. Smelly house ant
The last of the ant types on this list has a more than curious name. It is called ‘homemade’ because it goes around the surroundings of homes to form its colony, and ‘odorous’ due to the strong aroma they give off when they are crushed.
Odorous housewives are native to the United States and form colonies of up to 100,000 specimens. Its body is black or dark brown oval with three well differentiated parts: the head, the thorax and the tail. They feed on dead insects and sugary sweets, and can ‘smell’ waste from several miles away.
