Ant and Related Entomology Terms

An elongated, often segmented appendage, usually found near the mouth in invertebrate organisms; such as, mollusks, crustaceans, and insects; the functions of which include sensation, locomotion, and feeding.

Touching with the labial or maxillary palps.

The movement can serve as a sensory probe or as a tactile signal to another insect.

The utilization of the same nest and sometimes even the same odor trails by colonies of different species, which nevertheless keep their brood separate.

Symbiosis in which members of one species exist at the expense of members of another species, usually without going so far as to cause their deaths.

A parasite that slowly kills its victim, this event occurring near the end of the parasite's larval development.

The procedure during which the queen founds the colony by isolating herself in a chamber but occasionally leaves to forage for part of her food supply.

The act of investigating the nest interior and outer nest surface.

One of a heterogeneous group of food bodies with a pearl-like luster and high concentration of lipids (fatty acids), apparently used by plants to attract and to support ants.

Comb-like or bearing a comb, as the tarsal spurs (foot spine-like appendages).

The waist of te ant, made up of either one segment (the pediole) or two segments (the petiole plus the postpetiole), or the second segment of the antenna from the base outward.

Stalk-like, or set on a stalk, or peduncle, as the waist of many ant species.

The first segment of the waist of aculeate hymenoptera; it is in fact the second abdominal segment, since the first abdominal segment (propodeum) is fused to the thorax.

The process by which an individual learns clues; such as, recognition pheromones, from either itself or its kin and then matches them with cues provided by other individuals in order to classify them as kin or non-kin.

A chemical substance or a blend of substances, usually a glandular secretion, which is used in communication within a species.

One individual releases the material as a signal and another responds after tasting or smelling it.

Primer pheromones alter the physiology of individuals and prepare them for new behavioral repertories. Releaser pheromones evoke responses directly.

The condition in which the head or tip of the abdomen is truncated and is used as a living plug for the nest entrance.

It occurs in ants and termites, usually in the soldier caste.