Ant and Related Entomology Terms

(terms restricted to the study of social insects; such as, ants and words that apply generally to entomology)

venter
The lower surface.
vertex
The upper surface of the head between the eyes, frons (forehead), and occiput (back part of the head).
war
Overt aggression between groups of workers from different colonies that results in the appropriation of territorial space or nest sites.
weaver ants
Species of ants; such as, members of the genus Oecophylla, that use larval silk in construction of their nests.
worker
A member of the non-reproductive laboring caste in semi-social and eusocial species.

The existence of a worker caste presupposes the existence also of royal (reproductive) castes. In termites, the term is used in a more restricted sense to designate individuals in the family Termitidae that completely lack wings and have reduced pterothorax, eyes, and genital apparatus.

xenobiosis
1. The relation in which colonies of one species live in the nests of another species and move freely among the hosts, obtaining food from them by regurgitation or other means, but still keeping their brood separate.
2. A form of symbiosis among ants in which two colonies of different species live together on friendly terms without rearing their broods in common.

Here are two additional word units that deal directly with "ants": formic- and myrmeco-.


Index of additional Scientific and Technological Topics.


Bibliography of Entomology or Insect Terms (The Ants).