Ant and Related Entomology Terms

An immature stage which is radically different in form from the adult: Larvae are characteristics of the holometabolous insects, including the Hymeoptera.

In the termites, the term is used in a special sense to designate an immature individual without any external trace of wing buds or soldier characteristics.

An aggregation of males at a site, as in Pogomomyrmex, harvester ants: A lek is a small area where mating takes place year after year or at least repeatedly within the same year, and where males compete for access to females.

1. The relation in which colonies of a small species nest in the walls of the nests of a larger species: During lestobiosis, the insects enter the chambers of the larger species to prey on the brood or to rob the food stores.
2. Cleptobiosis characterized by furtive thievery: Lestobiosis is an association whereby one species regularly forages upon or steals the food stores of another species, but otherwise does not associate with it.

An exceptionally large male ant: A macraner can occur in species with two sizes of males, the smaller one is termed a "micraner".

A comparatively large insect queen. A macrogyne can exist in species with two sizes of queens, and is contrasted with a "microgyne", a female ant of dwarf size.

A member of the subcaste of the largest workers; especially, in ants: With ants, the subcaste of major workers is usually specialized for defense, so that an adult belonging to it is often also referred to as a "soldier".

A condition of ants gathering in a group: Male aggregation syndrome describes the mating pattern in which males from different nests convene in a group, and in which the queens join them to be inseminated.

The transfer of information among groups of individuals of a kind that cannot be transmitted from a single individual to another: Examples of mass communication include the spatial organization of army ant raids, the regulation of numbers of worker ants on odor trails, and certain aspects of the thermoregulation of nests.

The second pair of jaws in many insects or crustaceans: The maxilla is usually kept folded beneath the principal pair of jaws, or mandibles.

One of the pair of jointed appendages originating from the maxillae: The maxillary palp is small, like an antenna, and is a sensory attachment that develops from the upper jawbone.

In polymorphic ant series involving three or more worker subcastes: A media worker is one individual ant belonging to the medium-sized subcaste, or subcastes.

The middle of the three major divisions of the insect body: In most insects, the mesosoma is the strict equivalent of the thorax; but in the higher hymenoptera, it includes the propodeum (first abdominal segment of hymenopterans, fused to the thorax).

A change in the form and often habits of an ant as it develops with distinct larval, pupal, and adult stages: The process of netamorphosis can be exemplified by the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

A gland peculiar to the ants (Formicidae) found at the posteroventral, or metathorax, angle of the metapleuron: The metapleural gland produces antibiotic substances:

The metathorax is the posterior of the three segments in the thorax (area between the head and the abdomen) of an insect, and bears the third pair of legs.

Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the metanotum (dorsal), the metasternum (ventral or lower surface of an animal's body), and the metapleuron (lateral) on each side.

The hindmost of the three principal divisions of the insect body: In most insect groups, the metasoma is the strict equivalent of the abdomen.

In the higher hymenoptera, it is composed only of some of the abdominal segments, since the first segment (the propodeum) is fused with the thorax and has therefore become part of the mesosoma (middle of the three major divisions of the insect body).