Ant and Related Entomology Terms
(terms restricted to the study of social insects; such as, ants and words that apply generally to entomology)
The ant carton consists of particles of wood, dry vegetable material, and soil glued together with sugary secretions collected by the ants from aphids and other homopteran insects (bugs that pierce plant tissues and suck out the sap).
The fungal mycelium (loose network of delicate filaments hyphae or threadlike filaments that form the body of a fungus) grows through the walls of the carton which are strengthened by the symbiotic fungus which reinforces them in the same way that steel mesh or rods reinforce the walls of buildings.
Cleptobiosis is a widespread form of competitive exploitation in ants known as "robbing food" or "stealing food".
This mode is referred to occasionally as "hesmosis" in ant literature, and "sociotomy" in termite literature. Swarming honey bees can be regarded as a special form of colony fission.
By detecting the colony odor of another member of the same species, an insect is able to determine whether it is a nest mate.
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).