Ant and Related Entomology Terms

The coordinated transport of a food item by two or more workers.

An individual ant containing patches of both male and female tissue.

A female that is a member of the reproductive caste, whether functioning as a reproductive at the moment or not; hence, an ant queen in the broad sense.

Queen-like; specifically an ant worker with some typically queen features; such as, an enlarged abdomen.

A female containing patches of tissue of both the queen and worker castes.

The mode of sex determination in which males are derived from haploid (single set of unpaired chromosomes) eggs and females from diploid (two sets of chromosomes) eggs.

The founding of a colony by a single queen; as opposed to pleometrosis (multiple queens).

There is general agreement among students of ant ecology that harvesters strongly alter the abundance and local distribution of flowering plants; especially, in deserts, grasslands, and other xeric (dry) habitats where the ants are most abundant.

An ant species that feed substantially on seeds and store them in their nests.

Undergoing development which is gradual and lacks a sharp separation into larval, pupal, and adult stages.

Termites, for example, are hemimetabolous; as opposed to holometabolous (distinct larval, pupal, and adult stages).

Same as colony swarming, that is, the reproduction of colonies by the separation of colony fragments accompanied by fertile queens.

The metabolic dissolution and absorption of a tissue; such as, the wing muscles of the young queen during colony founding.

Undergoing a complete metamorphosis (change in form and habits) during development, with distinct larval, pupal, and adult stages.

The maintenance of a steady state; especially, a physiological or social condition, by means of self-regulation through internal feedback responses.

A member of, or pertaining to, the insect order Homoptera, which includes the aphids, jumping plant lice, treehoppers, spittlebugs, whiteflies, and related groups.