Ants
by amelia
Scientific name: Formicidae
Lifespan: 12 y (Black garden ant, Queen), 0.3 – 1 y (Pharaoh ant, Queen)
Length: 0.6 – 0.9 cm
Did you know
The body of a Ant
Ants have three main parts-the head, the thorax (middle section), and the abdomen.
Insects have six legs that are attached to the thorax, three to each side. The head is made up of the jaws, the eyes, and the antennae. The eyes of ants are made up of many lenses and are called compound eyes. Compound eyes make it possible for ants to see movement very well.
The antennae are special organs used by the ant to smell, touch, taste, and hear. In the abdomen are the ant's stomach and rectum. Many species (kinds) of ants have poison sacks and/or stingers in the end of the abdomen for defence against predators (enemies).Ants breathe through tiny holes all over their body. The ant's heart is a long tube that pumps colourless blood from the head back to the abdomen and then back up to the head again.
nests
Ants live in large colonies or groups. Their home is a nest. There may be up to a million ants in a large nest. In each colony there are three types of ants: the queen, the female workers, and males. The male ants' job is to mate with queen ants so that they will be able to lay eggs. Male ants don't live very long. A male and a female queen ant mate. The female is the larger ant. The queen grows to be an adult, mates with a male, than spends the rest of her life laying eggs. In a colony there may be only one queen or there may be many queens, depending on the species of ant. Worker ants do all the work in the nest. They build it and clean it, gather food, look after the queen, the eggs, and the young ants. Worker ants also defend the nest.
Life cycle
Ants go through four life stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The larva hatches from the egg and is cared for by the worker ants. During the pupa stage the larva is in a sleep-like state, as it changes into an adult ant.