Ant and Related Entomology Terms

An odor trail laid by scout workers and used to recruit nest mates to a food find, a desirable new nest site, a breach in the nest wall, or some other place where the assistance of many workers is needed.

Referring to a hair lying on the body surface.

The relative increase of one body part with respect to another as total body size is varied.

Allometry (measurement of the rate of growth of a part or parts of an organism relative to the growth of the whole organism) is a special form of relative growth.

1. An individual ant whose crop is greatly distended with liquid food, to the extent that the abdominal segments are pulled apart and the intersegmental membranes are stretched tight.

Repletes usually serve as living reservoirs, regurgitating food on demand to their nest mates.

2. In some colonies, the foraging workers gather termites, nectar from desert plants, and honeydew from homopterous insects, and store them in the crops of the repletes, nest mates that are specialized to serve as food storage receptacles.

A forager will regurgitate liquid from her crop into an expanding replete, while other full repletes hang from the ceiling of the nest chamber.

The stage in colony growth during which males and virgin queens are produced.

Males and fertile females, including queens and laying workers.

Covered with a network of carinae (ridges), striae (grooves running across or along the body), or rugae (fold, wrinkle, or crease).

A group of workers, not necessarily permanent or even long lasting in composition, who closely attend the queen.

The evolutionary modification of a behavior pattern that turns it into a signal used in communication or at least improves its efficiency as a signal.

A pattern of behavior displayed by certain members of an insect society that has an effect on other members in a way that divides labor.

A wrinkle on the body surface.

With rugae (wrinkles) forming a network or grid on the body.

A reference to a surface bearing multiple wrinkles, running approximately in parallel.

A portion of the body wall bounded by sutures.

A worker searching outside the nest for food or, in the case of slave-making species, a host colony suitable for raiding.