Ant and Related Entomology Terms

The standard method of indicating the number of segments in the maxillary (second pair of jaws under the principal pair) and labial palps respectively: If the palp formula had six,four; it would mean six segments in the maxillary palp and four in the labial palp.

One of two elongated, often segmented appendages, usually found near the mouth in invertebrate organisms: Pulpi are found in mollusks, crustaceans, and insects and have functions in sensation, locomotion, and feeding.

The contact with the labial or maxillary palps: The movement produced by a palpation 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: Parabiosis is a symbiosis between different species that share a common nest gallery, but nevertheless keep their brood separate.

Symbiosis in which members of one species exist at the expense of members of another species: Parasitism is the condition of one organism benefiting from another, and the other being harmed, but usually not involving their deaths.

A parasite that slowly kills its victim, this event occurring near the end of the parasite's larval development: A parasitoid can be any organism, that completes its larva growth by living in or on its host and finally crushing out the life of its host.

The procedure during which the queen founds the colony by isolating herself in a chamber: During the process of partially claustral colony founding, the queen occasionally leaves to forage for part of her food supply.

The act of investigating the nest interior and outer nest surface: Ants are known for patrolling their area by going around and in their nests for security reasons.

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

Relating to something that is comb-like or bearing a comb, as the tarsal spurs (foot spine-like appendages): The moth's pectinate antennae looked like little feathers.

The waist of the 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: The pedicel is the very small stem-like body part that links certain segments in some insects and other arthropods.

Stalk-like, or set on a stalk, or peduncle: The waist of many ant species are pedunculate, and a lobster has pedunculate eyes!

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.