1. The relation in which one species of ants robs the food stores or scavenges in the refuse piles of another species, but does not nest in close association with it.
2. A widespread form of competitive exploitation in ants known as "robbing food" or "stealing food".

A nest containing colonies of two or more species of social insects, up to the point where the galleries of the nests anastomose (come together or open into each other) and the adults sometimes intermingle but the broods of the species are still kept separate.

a nest containing colonies of two or more species of social insects, in which mixing of both the adults and the brood occurs.

A nest at least part of which is constructed of a mound of soil or carton material that projects above the ground surface.

The term carton material refers to a card-board-like substance consisting of chewed plant material often mixed with soil, made by certain insects for building nests.

The architecture of the mound is often elaborate, specific in plan to the species, and evidently adapted to contribute to microclimate control within the nest.

The distinctive odor of a nest, by which its inhabitants can distinguish their own nest from those belonging to other colonies or at least from the surrounding environment.

Certain insects; for example, honey bees and some ants, can orient themselves toward their nests by means of the odor.

It is possible that the nest odor is the same as the "colony odor" in some cases. The nest odor of honey bees is often referred to as the "hive aura" or "hive odor".