What Do Ants Eat?
Ants are one of the most widely distributed insects in the world. Its ability to adapt to a varied diet, depending on the environment and the time of year, was crucial for the survival and extension of its population. Next, we will analyze what ants eat and why this type of diet has favored their adaptability.
General facts about ants
At present, some 14,000 species of ants are known to inhabit all continents, with the logical exception of Antarctica. These insects make up a large and very diverse family called Formicidae , which belongs to the order Hymenoptera.
Like other insects, ants have an exoskeleton and their body is divided into three well-differentiated segments : the head, the mesomata (thorax and first abdominal segment) and the gaster or metasoma (second abdominal segment). Between the gaster and the mesomata there is a kind of waist composed of nodes, which is called the petiole.
However, ants show certain morphological features that allow them to be differentiated from other insects. Among them, the elbow antennae, the notable constriction of its gaster and the presence of metapleural glands stand out.
Ant species can vary greatly in size and appearance. The smallest species can reach only two millimeters in adulthood, while the largest can exceed 25 millimeters. Dark tones, such as black, brown or grayish, tend to predominate on their body.
What kinds of food do ants eat?
The ant is an omnivorous animal that usually maintains a very varied diet: it can consume almost everything it finds in its environment. In addition to capturing prey available in their environment, ants can collect leaves, herbs, seeds, pieces of fruits and vegetables, cereals, fungi and even carrion.
Some species of ants tend to hunt in large groups: they carry out collective attacks that allow larger prey to be hunted. Other poisonous species use their toxin to immobilize their prey ; then they tear them apart so that they can take their meat to the anthill.
The types of food that ants eat will depend fundamentally on their species, their habitat and the time of year. Species that live in cold environments, with harsh winters, usually store a good amount of food in the anthill, so they prepare for the lean season.
This ability to adapt to such a varied diet has been key to the global expansion of the ant population. These insects have adapted to practically all types of ecosystems and microclimates, and they are one of the most resistant animals in nature.
In addition, their omnivorous and versatile diet has allowed the ants to adapt optimally to human intervention in their habitat. They build their ant hills near or inside buildings; ants have abundant and continuous availability of food, as they collect the residues of human food.
Eusociety and the feeding of ants
One of the most fascinating curiosities about ants is their society. This is the most complex type of social organization in the entire animal kingdom and is based on caste recognition.
Currently, the eusociety is only observed in some insects (bees, wasps and ants), in a few species of crustaceans and in the naked mole rat.
To survive, the ants must build their shelter, popularly known as an anthill. Inside each anthill a society is formed divided into three castes: the queen ant, the soldier ants and the worker ants.
- The queen is the great mother and leader of all the individuals that live in the anthill. Its main and noblest function is to transmit its genetic material, which guarantees that its species remains fit to survive.
- The soldier ants are responsible for protecting and defending the community from predators or enemies that want to take the anthill.
- The worker ants are those that develop the basic works for the preservation of the community. One of its most important functions is precisely the collection of food for all the members of its anthill, including the queen. They not only deal with the transportation and provision of food; worker ants are also responsible for the maintenance of the anthill and the rearing of the larvae.
