Ants dominate many terrestrial ecosystems, yet we know little about their nutritional physiology and ecology. While traditionally viewed as predators and scavengers, recent isotopic studies revealed that many dominant ant species are functional herbivores. As with other insects with nitrogen-poor diets, it is hypothesized that these ants rely on symbiotic bacteria for nutritional supplementatio...

Five insecticides used by urban pest management professionals for ant control and threeexperimental insecticideswere tested todeterminewhether these insecticideswerehorizontally transferred among individuals in colonies of Argentine ants, Linepithema humile (Mayr) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Antswere exposed to insecticide-treated sand for 1min and then placed in a colony of untreated ants. Ants...

Ants are diverse and abundant, especially in tropical ecosystems. They are often cited as the agents of key ecological processes, but their precise contributions compared with other organisms have rarely been quantified. Through the removal of food resources from the forest floor and subsequent transport to nests, ants play an important role in the redistribution of nutrients in rainforests. Th...

Cuticular hydrocarbons from the ponerine ant Ectatomma ruidum Roger and a highly integrated eucharitid myrmecophile, Kapala sulcifacies (Cameron), associated with it, have been characterized. Ninety hydrocarbons were identiÞed from the ant, 55 hydrocarbons from the female wasp and 54 hydrocarbons from the male wasp. The wasps and ants share 40 hydrocarbons. These shared 40 hydrocarbons represen...

Interactions between lady beetles and the European fire ant (Myrmica rubra L.) tending potato aphids [Macrosiphum euphorbiae (Thomas)] were compared in the laboratory. Lady beetle species native to North America (Coccinella trifasciata perplexa Mulsant, Coleomegilla maculata lengi Timberlake, Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville) and non-native species of Palearctic origin [Coccinella septemp...

Spiders have their own suite of adaptations to avoid predators. They can run fast, jump high and even selfamputate their own legs to escape, and some species do something even cleverer: they disguise themselves as ants. They wave their forelegs around like antennae and even their thin, tapered bodies are shaped like those of ants. It has the desired effect; most predators mistake them for ants ...

Purpose. At present, the computer networks of information and telecommunication system (ITS) railway transport use OSPF protocol, which does not allow taking into account several metrics when determining optimal route. Therefore, there is a need to study possibility organizing routing in rail ITS using two-colonial ant algorithm. Methodology. According Two-ACO software model, created Python lan...

We present in this work a new algorithm for document hierarchical clustering and automatic generation of portals sites. This model is inspired from the self-assembling behavior observed in real ants where ants progressively get attached to an existing support and successively to other attached ants. The artificial ants that we have defined will similarly build a tree. Each ant represents one do...

background: qeshm (26.75n, 55.82e), iran, is 1500 km² island in the strait of hormuz. qeshm is a free trade zone, acting as an important channel for international commerce, and has been the site of much recent development. there is potential risk of stinging ant attacks for residents and visitors that may occur in the island. the aims of this study were to find out the fauna, dispersion, and so...

The spread of non-native invasive species is affected by human activity, vegetation cover, weather, and interaction with native species. We analyzed data from a 17-year study of the distribution of the non-native Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) and the native winter ant (Prenolepis imparis) in a preserve in northern California (U.S.A.). We conducted logistic regressions and used model select...