Over a two-year period in Arizona, there were 237 reported cases of people stung by ants. Most of these cases were caused by harvester ants and native fire ants, which pose a significant health risk to a small percentage of the population who are allergic to their sting. We report a case of anaphylaxis in Tucson caused by a sting of Pogonomyrmex rugosus. In addition, due to the severity of thei...

One of the most important micro engineers of the terrestrial ecosystems, especially in the arid areas is the harvester ants due to their activity in the soil through nest building; they can make major changes while influencing the surface and subsurface in the rangeland soil. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of harvester ants (Messor spp.) on some soil properties in Rood...

Horned lizards (Iguanidae, Phrynosomatinae, Phrynosoma) are morphologically specialized reptiles characterized by squat, tank-like bodies, short limbs, blunt snouts, spines and cranial horns, among other traits. They are unusual among lizards in the degree to which they specialize on a diet of ants, but exceptional in the number of pugnacious, highly venomous, stinging ants they consume, especi...

harvester ants are known as one of the most renowned bio-disturbances in the arid and semi-arid ecosystems that affecte vegetation by collecting seeds and harvesting plants. it seems that physiognomy of plant association in steppe shrub land of roodshoor, saveh, iran has been highly changed by harvester ants’ activities that caused to conduct this research. the study was carried out on active a...

Facilitation, when one species enhances the environment or performance of another species, can be highly localized in space. While facilitation in plant communities has been intensely studied, the role of facilitation in shaping animal communities is less well understood. In the Chihuahuan Desert, both kangaroo rats and harvester ants depend on the abundant seeds of annual plants. Kangaroo rats...

The simultaneous study of the temporal dynamics of foraging behaviour, diet and seed abundance is essential to assess the way in which resources affect the behaviour and ecology of harvester ants. Here, we evaluate how fluctuations in grass seed abundance during three consecutive growing seasons influenced the foraging behaviour and diet of the harvester ants Pogonomyrmex rastratus, P. mendozan...

■ Abstract Seed-harvester ants are a dominant and conspicuous insect group throughout arid portions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, and they include ∼75 species. Intense study in the late 1970s and early 1980s led to the paradigm that interspecific competition for limited seed resources is the primary factor that structures seed-harvester ant communities. This review atte...

Social insect colonies use interactions among workers to regulate collective behavior. Harvester ant foragers interact in a chamber just inside the nest entrance, here called the 'entrance chamber'. Previous studies of the activation of foragers in red harvester ants show that an outgoing forager inside the nest experiences an increase in brief antennal contacts before it leaves the nest to for...

In social insects, groups of workers perform various tasks such as brood care and foraging. Transitions in workers from one task to another are important in the organization and ecological success of colonies. Regulation of genetic pathways can lead to plasticity in social insect task behaviour. The colony organization of advanced eusocial insects evolved independently in ants, bees, and wasps ...