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June 13, 2023
Defence Against Ants in Singapore
July 14, 2023
Ants Pest Blog
Depending on the species of Ants, some will bite when feel threaten and leave a nasty itch and red bumps. They only have 1 objective, to protect the nests site.
What Truly Happens in the Ants Colony?
Learn More About the Different Group of Ants Characteristic
These tiny group of ants insects commonly found throughout the world. They live in organised ant colony, working cooperatively, carrying labor, defending war, and sometimes capturing slaves. Ants belong to the Hymenoptera order, that also includes bees and wasps. Ants have been around for more than over 100 million years ago, and perhaps evolved from wasps.
Ants exist throughout the entire world and particularly thrives in hotter and humid environment. They have travelled foraging for food to the tropics, to areas as cold as the north pole, mountains, and the deserts. They have made ant nests from many different materials, like dirt, sand, wood, and even leaves. The male is task to mate with the queen, the queen and workers works hand in hand to establish a system after laying eggs.
In an ant caste It is rare to have multiple queens but it does happen. The goal is simply to strengthen the growth in population. Outdoors, odorous house ants are in exposed dirt soil or underneath piles of wood hunting for food source. The female workers are usually mending the nest colony and laying eggs.
The Anatomy of The Ants Species
A Colony is a Group of Ants That Stays as One
They are normally yellow, brown, red, or black in colour. Only a few have a metallic shine for colour. Ants are of three different parts, the head, the thorax, and abdominal. The head is always larger and the abdominal is slim and oval.
Their six legs are attach to the midsection and the thorax joint to the abdominal area by a tiny section. The mandibles are the most important tool for most ants, used for biting, crushing, cutting, fighting, and hunting. An adult ants consume liquids into the back of their jaw storage pocket. Solid food will normally enter the pocket, where a stronger saliva digest it down.
Different body parts of ants varies and depend on the way the kind of species habitat. Harvester ants have shorter, bigger, crushing jaws to break into seeds. Leaf cutters like weaver ants have mandible with sharp saw edges to shred leaves. The mandible of the amazon ant are sickle like a curved tool to kill other insects instantly.
Most ants have the same kind of eyes called ocelli located at the top of the head. Most useful feature than the eyes are the paired antennae, which gives them the ability to sense and smell. The antennae have two pointed rods that sways constantly from the head as the ant manoeuvres. Each has a joint at the midsection and bends like an elbow.
With the antennae ants are able to recognise its nest and the members from its colony. It can immediately single out intruder from other colony by its smell. Ants are able to interact with each other by tapping on antennae. Nursemaid ants clean the ant stage eggs and larva pupa and adult are aid with their antennae and their tongues.
Only the males ants and queens ant have winged, and used only once to attract ants during on their mating. Most ants have simple stings, and instead of stinging they give out vapours of formic acid. Other ants, like bulldog ants and fire ants, have mighty powerful stings near the tip of the abdominal area. Ants breathe through little holes called spiracles, along the sides of the abdomen and the thorax.
Ant Behaviour And Sociability Amongst The Nest
The Ant Colony
The most fascinating trait of ant behaviour is sociability, they do not work alone, hence ant infestations. They dedicate task in a colony caste, such as adult worker or soldier. The main social group is the colony, wherever ants in your home forms the nest. The nests of an ants varies in shape and material used.
Most ant spent their entire ant life cycle in the nest with ants population approximately more than a million. Some ants dig passageway in the ground and some locate their nests under rocks, in trees, or in logs. When ants get hungry, it strokes a worker antennae to bring a drop of liquid from the crop. Workers bring food to feed the queen and other ants in the colony.
The female ants are task with lining batches of ants eggs, caring for the ant larvae until they reach adult stage. Ants occasionally have conflict amongst their own species or with members of other kind. When threatened, by another colony an ant war can break loose. Killing ant warfare is an organised, aggressive battle using physical attacks, like biting or stinging.
Some are capable to release chemicals to subdue the enemies. Ants work together by holding their enemy down and destroying them. They will even go the eggs and larvae of their enemies and then raise them to be slaves. The ants problem and dispute have lead to a long lasting feud for years between different colonies.
Ants have various methods of defence, some biting or spitting out a liquid. Others may use their stings to shoot formic acid while some runs when attacked or “play dead.” Some ants sound signal by rubbing their legs along their abdominal to warn others in their colonies. On top of being excellent communicators, ants also have an amazing sense of direction.
They can locate their way to their nest by solely vision and smell. They align themselves with the position of the sun and memorable landmarks, like trees. Some ants are able leave scent pheromones trails to aid other ants which is perfect for ant bait treatment. 409 types of ants species exist in Singapore.
Only 5 types of ants in Singapore are commonly causing nuisance. Innovative Pest Management is your best bet to rid of ants problem permanently.
Innovative Pest Management Blog
Related Posts About Ants
Defence Against Ants in Singapore- Part 1
Defence Against Ants in Singapore - Pt 2
6 Signs of an Ants Infestation
The Expert Guide to Prevent Ants and Home Remedies
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