ANTS (BLACK & RED)
Ants are small insects that live in colonies. They are members of arthropod family. They have well defined body parts to suit their work. Ants are highly developed colonized animals having a much disciplined life with very well defined distribution of labor.
Ants have bodies covered with exoskeleton for protection from injuries from outside. Their bodies are well defined in three major parts, the abdomen, the thorax and the head. They have three pairs of legs with a pair of appendages on their head serving as pair of claws. The ants can move fast and are very good swimmers. The ants are divided in the workers, the soldiers and the queen. This is the structure of their nests and colonies where the queen reproduces, the soldiers defend and the workers work. Everyone has defined work and no ant ever does any work it is not supposed to do. The body structures are also to suit their work. The workers are having small bodies, the soldiers are having bigger bodies with stronger claws to fight, and the queen is the biggest having big belly to lay number of eggs.
Ants life cycle
Ant life cycle is very distinctive and categorized. It is divided in four stages. This is called metamorphosis. Each stage may take couple of days to couple of weeks, depending on species of ant.
Eggs
This is stage one. Only the queen can lay eggs after mating with a male ant. The queen does nothing else but to mate and lay eggs in a nest built by workers and guarded by the soldiers. The eggs are oval in shape, white and transparent, may be of couple of millimeters in size. These eggs may take some days to grow into larvae.
Larvae
Eggs become larvae after may be some weeks. These are limbless barrel like structures. They eat voraciously. Adults feed them with their digested food which they regurgitate.
Pupae
Pupae are after larvae stage. They may be encased in a cocoon. They have well defined body structures. Their body parts are folded and stuck with their bodies. They are white at first but they become darker with time.
Adult ant
Adult ants come out of pupae stage. When they finally emerge, their body parts are fully developed and functioning. Only difference may the color which may be light at first and slowly become dark later. The ants have defined bodies, The queen who mates and produces eggs, the males who mate with the queen and the females who do not produce eggs and become workers.
Types of ants
Ants are of many types. They are found in almost every climate and they can build their nests in almost every habitat types. Mainly fifteen types of ants are visible worldwide. They are…• Acrobat type ants
• Allegheny type ants
• Argentine type ants
• Bigheaded ants
• Carpenter ants
• Citronella ants
• Field ants
• Fire ants
• Harvester ants
• Moisture ants
• Odorous ants
• Pavement ants
• Pharaoh ants
• Thief ants
These ants are in having distinct characters, body structures and habitats. The ants are not harmful to humans exactly as the other pests are. They do not carry any germs and do not spread any disease. Their bites may hurt as they are mild to moderately poisonous. Ants may pilfer in domestic food storage, especially in sweet food. But they are a great nuisance value and every house hold wants an ant free house.
