Talk:Ant/archive1

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Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Contents

Neotropics/neotropic confusion?

The table in the number of species section links to nearctic, which is the nearctic ecozone, and to neotropics which claims it should not be confused with the neotropic ecozone. Is this correct?

stinger???

the pictured ant has a stinger on it's posterior, to the best of my knowledge this is not right. they bite then squirt acid at the scratch i think, it's not really a proper stinger like that of a wasp or bee. (unsigned question posted by user:Cadmiumcandy)

I believe you'll find it is a vestigial remnant of wasp heritage.

He is completely correct. It is a picture, not like he added a stinger on its "posterior"! Duh dude.

Many ants have completely functional stingers, it is not "vestigial" at all. Anyone who has ever stepped in a fire ant mound will tell you: you get stung. MANY times. Dyanega 20:43, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

deleted text

If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant brain has about 250,000 brain cells and a human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human. Interesting because humans are about 7.5 billion times as large as ants, yet are brains are only 40 thousand times as big.

.. i actually found it interesting LadyofHats 14:06, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

Ants are certainly one of the freakiest creatures on Earth. 18.252.5.157 08:07, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Stuff like "an ant can lift many times its own body weight" or "if a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse" is in some senses a hoax. All this can easily be explained by using the laws of physics, and an ant the size of a dog would be so weak it would have problems just to walk (but it would die from the lack of oxygen long before that point). 217.68.114.116 12:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

One of my updates, that the combined mass of all ants on earth is greater than the combined mass of all humans on earth, was deleted as "nonsense" and "vandalism" by fisherqueen. However, this is a sure fact, I just don't have the citations for it. Does anyone have a reference? -wazawak

Ants keeping other insects as 'pets'

Computer scientist and author Rudy Rucker says in his fiction book The Hacker and the Ants that some ants keep other insects in their nests as 'pets' but does not back up this assertion. Does anyone know if this is true? Would it add interest to this article if shown to be true?

Greg 05:45, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

If true, yeah... although I have a hard time believing it could be true. Maybe he's just being colorful about the ant/aphid relationship? --Allen 13:11, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
This is TRUE. Ants do keep other insects as "pets", mainly as "livestock" to get honeydew. Aphids and some scale insects are what is kept to get this honey-like substance. Martial Law 06:01, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Ants FAQ to Wikipedia?

Hello all. I was wondering if there should be an ants FAQ like http://alpha.zimage.com/~ant/antfarm/read/AntsFAQ.txt ... I would like to convert to add to this Wikipedia for it. Is it possible? What do you guys think?

Sounds good. That URL is now http://ants.pbwiki.com/ by the way. Jidanni (talk) 23:03, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Ants in initiaiton rites

The Humans and Ants section ends with the sentence:

            Others use ant bites in initiation ceremonies as a test of endurance.

Can anyone provide a specific reference/link for this?

Uh, I can think of one offhand... It was called "Stranger than Fiction, Killer Bugs"... or something like that. I remember reading it as a young child, a book of interesting killer bug facts and what-not.

--Cje 13:26, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Citations added. Shyamal 03:02, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Cleanup

There is a typographical error under "Morphology": it should be "a node-like petiole" not "node-like a petiole". The article appears to be locked, so I can't fix it. -LL

Could someone with a knowledge of ants please fix this mess? Wyllium 15:06, 2004 Oct 15 (UTC)

The paragraph on colonies should be moved to the entry on ant colonies, shouldn't it? Etxrge 08:00, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

It doesn't make much sense to talk about the reproduction or behavior of ants without describing colonies...


I'm not a biologist, but it appears that the ant-eating caterpillars are in a predatory relationship with the ants, not a symbiotic one. Is there an appropriate technical title for this section? Czyl

Im not a biologist eather, but i beleave it would depend on the region. ( Now im speculating ) such as a city witch might have smaller ants and smaller, fewer caterpillars might be a symbotic. whare as in a suburb whare everything is placed togather the ants might be more preditory. Dagbiker 16:58, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Chalk

I've heard that ordinary chalk can be used to keep ants at bay- apparently, for some unknown reason they refuse to cross it. Google references: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

I found this fascinating, and added it to the 'Humans and Ants' section as another method of dealing with ants. If anyone knows a biological reason for this behaviour, or can develop on it, please do. --Psyk0 13:04, 25 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I assume it would be because the high calcium content of the chalk absorbs the ants' communication pheromones, thereby making a chalk-line an "void space" in the pheromone trail that ants leave when foraging. capnmidnight 11:49, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

"Lennigan vs. the Ants" a short story.

Can anyone tell me where to find the story or be able to provide a copy? I remember reading it and it was very good. Anyone??? -G

Lennigan vs. The Ants...does anyone know the author? On the web I've discovered several folks all asking the smae question, including librarians.


The author of this story is CARL STEPHENSON, and the name of the story is actually "Leiningen versus the Ants". A search should turn up this story on dozens of web sites. http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lvta.html, http://www.bygosh.com/Features/012003/leiningenvsants.htm, http://www.moonstar.com/~acpjr/Blackboard/Common/Stories/Ants.html are a few to get you started.
Believe me, my search turned up nothing. Hence my cry for help, and it has been answered. I thank you.-G

Do ants really bite? Don't they spray or pee? Can someone help me clear this up, please?

Yes, they do really bite, some sting, and there are really agressive ants that will kill you. See Re.: Killer Ants below. Martial Law 21:30, 22 April 2006 (UTC) :)


OtherUses template

Please change the article to use Template:OtherUses instead of Template:otheruses it currently uses. The OtherUses template has information about the contents of the article.

{{OtherUses|info=information about the contents of the article}}

For a sample use of this template refer to the articles Alabama or Algiers--—The preceding unsigned comment was added by DuKot (talk • contribs) .

Note that that functionality is now at {{otheruses1}}. {{OtherUses}} redirects to {{otheruses}}, and is deprecated.--Srleffler 18:41, 23 July 2006 (UTC)


Ant Smell

I have heard that only one in three people can smell the smell that is produced when ants are crushed or killed. Does anyone have any information about this.

This depends on which species you are talking about... Some species, like Lasius fuliginosus, don't need to be crushed - their colonies emit a "sweet" smell. Other species don't smell at all when crushed.

My mom can smell regular little black ants when they are dead. ⇒ JarlaxleArtemis 04:17, 23 July 2006 (UTC)


Ants as food

I have added a new subsection in the section Humans and ants. I will in future do some research, but if anyone wants to contribute first, please do. I know that in Santander, Colombia ants are eaten. I have myself. They are called hormigas culonas --Francisco Valverde 17:38, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

Killer Ants

On 4-22-06, at 3pm EST/EDT, the Discovery Channel has aired a program called Killer Ants. Featured ants are the Army ants, Bulldog ants, and a really agressive ant called "Jack Jumpers". See the Discovery Channel article for more info about these ants on their website related to what they show on TV. Martial Law 21:27, 22 April 2006 (UTC) :)

Pest Removal

A paragraph or two on effective ways to kill, or remove ants would be appreciated.

I think I can cover this, using an article I wrote about how to get rid of ants. I've started work on the section, and though it needs some work, I think it's good progress. I know I dropped an external link in there to my own research on the matter, but I'm wondering if there are other more "institutionalized" sources about ant control. --[[User:Samoya|Samoya]] 18:15, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Origin of ants

As we know, the ants evolved from some wasp ancestor. But what kind of wasp? What we know about ants; their colonies were probably primary made by burrow in the soil, they evolved from a predatory species that did not built comb cells and they evolved from a solitary wasp. Just a theory; a parasitic wasp with a sting to paralyze its victims (like many ants are still doing) made burrows in the ground where the paralyzed victim was dragged into, and laid egg there. To make sure the offspring had something to feed on. In the end, this ancestor used a single burrow only (instead of making a new each time), where all the prey was brought to her and her eggs/larvae. Because she lived in the same hole as her offspring, overlapping generations was a result. After she had mated and made her burrow, she eventually lost her wings. The reason for this was probably because she had specialized on capturing ground living prey. And because she lived under and often on the ground herself, she sacrified her wings to become a more effective hunter in the nivhe she was living, hunting on other small arthropods near her burrow. To do this, she used her eyes, since that's how flying wasps often find their prey, and like bulldog ants still do (and where there is very little difference between the workers and the queen). As more advanced species evolved and they became truly social, many started to use chemical senses instead and the mother stopped hunting and took the role as an egg layer only, while her offspring took care of the food collection. And since then, they are continued to explore the ground, the trees and other niches.

Lost content

Apparently, quite a bit of content was lost when an anonymous user removed the Taxobox and the references and external links (30 May 2006). If I read the revision history correctly, this content has only partially been reconstructed. Is this intentional? — Tobias Bergemann 13:16, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Deadly Ants

Besides the well known Army Ants, there are the Bullet Ants, the "Jack Jumpers", which are really agressive ants, then there are the "Saifu" Ants. All were featured on the Discovery Channel's show Killer Ants, which aired 6-17=06 @ 14:30 CST/CDT. The first two live in Australia, and killed people there, the latter lives in Africa and will kill and eat HUMANS and done so. Martial Law 06:05, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Division of labor

In the article it says that ants follow pathways of strong scents and that they teach each other new routes by following..

I've observed an ant nest, and I've noticed that when a new, strong and strange scent is dropped in the middle of a main pathway on a rock, there will appear in 5 mins a nest maintainter or two with a speficic task to clean up obstacles in the vicinity of my object. The object cause every passing ant to stop and it disrupted the traffic. The maintainers will drag small stones 5 cm away from the pathway until they have found my object. The object was sticky and hard to move (slime), and after the first maintainer failed to move it, though I didn't watch the whole time, the object had been turned so that it no longer blocked the pathway. How can the ants form spesific sub-tasks under the general division of castes? How can they put the info forward about a location of an obstacle? How can they communicate the nature of tasks? Teemu Ruskeepää 16:59, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I seem to remember hearing that soldier ants constantly monitor the worker ants and will kill any that are not working or are putting out the wrong pheromone. Could someone include something on this with a reference? Also, what happens if a soldier is not putting out the correct pheromone? Jbottoms76 19:32, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia version 0.5

I moved it into held nominations because it has 2 section stubs. So it failed on quality. Maybe later, after improving those sections, you could nominate it again. Thanks. NCurse work 21:26, 1 July 2006 (UTC)


Biomass

The figure for percent biomass needs a reference. Currently it says up to 15%, the best source I can find suggests even higher. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/97/26/14028

Humans make only 0.33% of the biomass and krill (most successful animal) make 0.66%, 15% is TOO high for the ants.
--Mahadeva (Messages) 01:15, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
The reference says "terrestrial animal" biomass. Maybe the other figure includes all life forms. Shyamal 01:54, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Ant lifespan

After a brief perusal through the aritcle, I saw no mention of general or specific ant lifespan. --Stux 17:49, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Covered. Shyamal 04:11, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Identifying Ants

Last summer, I had a problem with these tiny ants. Whenever I'd kill one with my hand, I notice they left this really pungent stink. While I haven't seen them since then, I was wondering if anyone knew what type of ant I was referring to? Prey 02:22, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

GREAT ARTICLE !!

someone should nominate this article for featured status

slapslime needs help

i just created an account and dont know much about graphics can someone tell me how to add pictures and do cool stuff like that

p.s. (i am also a junior programer)Slapslime 15:08, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

first things first this discussion page is about the article only, posts like that will probably get deleted by mods. go to the help page, and go through the tutorials. if you want to upload a picture you just have to go to special:upload it's fairly straightforward Paskari 15:54, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Finding way home

I have serious doubts on this issue "Home is typically located through the use of remembered landmarks and the position of the sun as detected with compound eyes and also by means of special sky polarization-detecting fibers within the eyes." I don't think ants have memory. if they did they wouldn't need phermones, they'd remember the way to the food source. and how would the position of the sun help? Paskari 15:54, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Interesting point. I looked for references and found that ants do work with a lot with visual landmarks and added the needed citations. The article does need cite sources and avoid being questionable. Shyamal 04:48, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Ants! Nature's Secret Power

On Ants! Nature's Secret Power, Discovery Science, Directtv#284, I do think that I'd heard that humans & ants {regarding aphids} are the two species most likely to keep domesticated herds.

Thank You.

[[ hopiakuta | [[ [[%c2%a1]] [[%c2%bf]] [[ %7e%7e%7e%7e ]] -]] 19:48, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


Morphology

Some of the information in the morphology part is not specific, but includes insects in generel. In my opinion it should be deleted. And does ants really lack a heart? 217.68.114.116 12:12, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Congratulations

To all concerned - this is a great article! 86.136.27.113 16:14, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Using domesticated animals

I added the following text: "Ants are the only species besides humans that keep domesticated animals-namely mealybugs and aphids. It is a win-win situation where ants protect them and move them to sweeter plant parts to gain energy from their honeydew and secretions." I think this is a very important statement because they are one of two creatures to do so. Please consider readding this statement to the article. 68.17.204.58 20:05, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I removed it because the information on tending of aphids is already mentioned. Domestication generally involves selective breeding and control of reproduction. Aphids live and breed quite independently and can fly around. The scientific term for a win-win situation is mutualism/commensalism or symbiosis. If this is called domestication, then there are more species that be claimed to do this. There is a nice review on the Evolution of agriculture in insects. [6]. Many popular articles may try to make the information more interesting by using such anthropocentric terms. So it would be best to include such information only with a suitable reference. Shyamal 02:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
I got this informtaion from an Animal Planet television program: "Ants! - Nature's Secret Power". [7] 68.17.204.58 02:41, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
Ok. Interesting, but a half-truth to create greater interest I am afraid. Shyamal 03:31, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Ants as first name

Ants is also Estonian first name. This means not insects, but is the Estonian counterpart for German first name Hans. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 193.40.110.66 (talk) 15:26, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Sugar Ants

These things are small black colored ants that invade the house. They're about the size of the letter "l" presented here. Had them once. Raid works well on them. Martial Law 00:13, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

A bug expert ID-ed them for me. Martial Law 00:14, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Talking of sugar, I decided to place a sweet next to an ant nest, not long after an ant appeared to be on the sweet feeding on it instead of taking pieces back to the nest, is this because the sweet is so sugary that it is too irrisistable? Looked like the little ant was enjoying it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.199.119.110 (talk) 17:33, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Graphic near "relationships with other species" header

The graphic says 'Polymesia.' There's no such thing as Polymesia. Polymesia does not exist. There is no wiki article on it. There is no article on it anywhere. Polymesia is a fiction; get over it. GET OVER IT, IT'S POLYNESIA!!!

Yes, I also think it should be 'Polynesia'. But since it seems to be an honest mistake, please try to be a little more civil. +A.Ou 04:26, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
Fixed I hope. Shyamal 03:51, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

This page has been vandalized.

I only have a highschool education, but I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as "cookie crisp ants" or "fatass ants". (70.181.188.194 08:36, 13 March 2007 (UTC))

Really nice to see critical reading. The fatass ant appears to be true though, citation added. Not sure about the other but the fact remains that ants are eaten. :) Shyamal 03:52, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

GA review

I was going to review this now but it's late and I'm tired and decided to go to bed. A few points: I think the family name and classification should be worked into the lead, as well the number of species shouldn't be in its own paragraph. If planning for FA one day, then standardizing the references is essential. Good luck. The isolated sentence in the lead makes me think there could be some copyedit issues too but I haven't looked. cheers, Cas Liber | talk | contribs 15:02, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

To which I'd add a couple of quick comments; this article doesn't conform to the manual of style regarding sandwiching text between images on the left and right; further the 'family tree' is pushed into the main text by the taxobox. The diversity table is also hard to read and looks a mess - maybe remove the 'thumb' attribute and replace it with a suitable width - or better, incorporate a table into the content. I may be back to perform a full review if I get the chance! Verisimilus T 15:17, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Most of these problems should be fixed now. No text is sandiwched any more, and I've recoded the .svg table in wikitable format. I'm not sure what you mean about the cladogram (family tree), so I haven't been able to fix that. --Stemonitis 17:01, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
With a wide screen size, the cladogram is high enough on the page to be forced to the left by the taxobox. It could probably be moved down a few lines in the text. Congratulations on your GA! Verisimilus T 15:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Wow, that must be quite a wide screen. I thought I used high resolution, but I have to zoom out to achieve that (but at least I know what you were talking about now). It should be improved now; I've shoved it one paragraph further down the page. --Stemonitis 15:17, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Passing as a Good Article

I am going to go ahead and pass this as a Good Article; from what I can see, this recognition is long overdue. The article is fascinating and generally well-written, though it could use some grammar/style polishing (I noticed a few awkward sentences). Keep up the good work! - AdelaMae (t - c - wpn) 21:07, 8 May 2007 (UTC)


Re Death of Ants

I've heard that when an ant dies, it emits a different pheromone signaling other ants to carry it out of the mound or nest. True?? Berserkerz Crit 10:43, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Both ants and bees show a number of "hygiene behaviours" including the removal of parasites, dead nest mates etc. I am not sure how death is perceived. It is most likely a chemical cue, but chances are that this is not termed a pheromone. Shyamal 17:21, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
[8] Added a section under defense with information on defenses against pathogens, such as undertaking behaviour. In Atta mexicana it is noted that Oleic acid may be a component from dead ants that triggers the behaviour. Shyamal 17:45, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Mass Die Offs

Is anyone an ant expert here? Has anyone reported mass die-offs of ant colonies? Someone forwarded me an e-mail of where a large amount of ants have been washed-up on MILES of shores of Topsail Island, NC. Kgrr 15:42, 13 May 2007 (UTC)


Ant Virus and Pesticides

"SINV-1, has proven to be self-sustaining and transmissible. Once introduced, it can eliminate a colony within three months. ... The virus was found in about 20 percent of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies. Researchers believe the virus has potential as a viable biopesticide to control fire ants, known to scientists as Solenopsis invicta." "Fire ants may have met their match", CNN, May 7, 2007. 

74.61.14.155 17:36, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

If this is noteworthy, then it should be placed on the pertinent page, which is the page for Solenopsis invicta. Dyanega 00:14, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Y Done Kgrr 13:53, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Total sum of ants

In the opening, it is stated that "When all their individual contributions are added up, they may constitute up to 15 to 25% of the total terrestrial animal biomass". Can someone explain to me (or add in the article, if you will) how many ants there are in total? Kinda wondering, cause I wouldn't really know the total amount of biomass. --Soetermans 21:54, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

These estimates are arrived by a series of calculations with upper and lower bounds (number of colonies per unit area * number of ants per colony * dry weight of ant * total ant occupied land area). Your question may have a partial answer here Shyamal 01:32, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

Weight & Lifting??

So how much does an 'ant' weigh (yes, yes, different ants weigh different amounts, etc)? Lifting 10-20x your body weight is a great little factoid, but it doesn't tell me much. The french link goes to an access-denied DB, so that doesn't help any. The bounds on ant-weight would be nice to have.
~ender 2008-02-18 20:49:PM MST

Not sure about the point. Where are these statements made? If there is a reliable reference on the mechanical abilities, it could be added with citation - but in general individual ant weights can vary from around 0.1mg to 10mg. Shyamal (talk) 06:33, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

Ants in Culture section?

In the "Ants in Culture" section, it seems as though there is an inconsistency in the text discussing the word for ants in Asian society. The sentence begins refering to Japanese symbols and end refering to Chinese characters. While something is clearly "off" here, I don't know enough about Asian languages (oh well...) to rectify the error. Those with the knowledge help us out! laonoodlekeemow 06:56, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

hmm, and the problem has its roots in the original source here. Shyamal 07:14, 20 May 2007 (UTC)


Featured Status

This article looks pretty good. Why isn't it featured yet? 24.115.203.92 13:55, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Semi protection

I have not seen any constructive edits by IP edits for a long time. Have placed a request for semi-protection at Wikipedia:Requests_for_page_protection#Current_requests_for_protection. Please post any concerns here. Shyamal 03:42, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

It has been semi protected for a long time, perhaps it is time to lift this. I promise to help out removing vandalism. GameKeeper (talk) 21:17, 12 April 2008 (UTC)
Done. It gets more than 3000 page hits a day on average and it has been a magnet for vandalism. I would be pleasantly surprised to see drive by IPs add anything new and useful in the right locations. Shyamal (talk) 02:08, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

some stuff

hi guys, i'm just getting my feet wet in this wikiediting thing. strange process! i just went through the article and cleaned up a bunch of language and added tiny bits of content.

some thoughts:

the section on development mentions polymorphism but not by name, the section on polymorphism is a little weak.

section on ant cooperation and competition seems weak

minor quibble, this is confusing:

>Charles Thomas Bingham notes that in parts of India, and throughout Burma and Siam, a paste of the green weaver ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, is served as a condiment with curry. Saville Kent, in the Naturalist in Australia wrote "Beauty, in the case of the green ant, is more than skin-deep. Their attractive, almost sweetmeat-like translucency possibly invited the first essays at their consumption by the human species." Mashed up in water, after the manner of lemon squash, "these ants form a pleasant acid drink which is held in high favor by the natives of North Queensland, and is even appreciated by many European palates."[50]

same or different ants? two different continents!


overall i think some paragraphs can be rewritten and i think some major general concepts about ants are missing. if i get inspired, i'll suggest them. afraid to rewrite whole sections because i'm no expert, though i did study ants.

p.s. how do i get my name on the wiki arthropod project? now i can't remember where i saw that page.. Wikiskimmer 04:45, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

There's a link at the top of this page to wp:arthropods. Presumably the quotation refers to palates of European colonists. This section is copied straight out of the linked reference so should be rewritten too. Go for it!. Bendž|Ť 05:18, 28 June 2007 (UTC)
Here is the Arthropods project. Feel free to make improvements to the text. Regarding Oecophylla, note that many ant species are quite widespread and are not restricted to continents, for instance the Indo-Malayan region does meet up with the Australian biogeographical region. Some species can cross the lines, particularly pioneer species with the ability to reach by drifting or flight. The quotes were added as a reaction to disbelief and citation needed tags added in the past. Shyamal 05:33, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

Hauled off a brass nail

I saw ants in my house here in Taiwan hauling off a brass nail to their hole. Diet supplement? Secret operations command center construction? The nail I'm certain was not specially flavored. Do mention something about this type of case. Jidanni 00:45, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

taiwan? eh? i'm not familiar with your ants.. but i had 5 different ant colonies once who i fed honey to. Only the Aphaenogasters did this: they would grab bits of moss and humus from all over their vial and bring it and stick it into the honey drop until the honey was all soaked up. what can i say?

p.s. you changed "mutualism with trees" to "mutalism with plants" do you have any refs for such mutualisms with plants that aren't trees? i know where to find refs to acacia trees. but i've only SEEN Camponotus protecting a Viccia spp. that had nectaries. but that's OR.Wikiskimmer 01:38, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

All I know is here at elevation 777 meters in Taiwan, there the ants are, waiting on various weeds in their karate stances, or loitering, etc. Certainly they are running some protection racket. But I am not a scientific observer. Jidanni 08:10, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
I know they polinate some bushes as well. I think it's safe to leave as is now. Plants are inclusive of trees but not the other way around, so it's more accurate even if imprecise without being OR. The brass nail tale is interesting. It's a lot of effort for more mineral supplement than they could ever use. Bendž|Ť 09:02, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Landmasses without ants

The introductory section states that the only landmasses without ants are Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, and Hawaii. Does this mean that places like Ellesmere Island and Franz Josef Land have majorly cold-resistant ants hiding on them, or did the person making this claim just miss them in the research? BTW, the source given to support this statement ([9]) only supports the claim for Hawaii; I'll put the citation needed tag on it. --Nucleusboy 00:00, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Rafting

Where you mention rafting, also mention that, well, I opened one of my 1500 liter seldom used water storage tanks here in Taiwan, only to find them rafting peacefully in two chunks of 100, eggs and all. A whole virtual community on the surface of the water, and in the dark too. Jidanni 04:24, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Sounds more like an accident. Shyamal 04:30, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

I lifted the lid for the first time in weeks and there they were, floating. They didn't fall in from me lifting the lid or anything. Jidanni 20:52, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

OK, I just now lifted it again and they were living on the side of the tank. Hmmm. Jidanni 01:09, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Motivation of cooperation

Mention when they carry a heavy object all the way back to the nest, do they at least get a virtual "round of applause or some beers" for their effort? Or are they like tireless nuns and monks, devoted to some leader? Say what human model fits best. Jidanni 04:43, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

No human model completely fits. Haplodiploidy runs "thicker than water". See kin selection, inclusive fitness all (indirectly) linked in the article. Shyamal 05:16, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

scientific name

Does anyone know the ants scientific name? --Mydachshunds2 21:59, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

All the scientific names are in the box on the right, just below the first picture. Or are you looking for a name of a perticular species? Calamarain 21:12, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Ants that plant

You may thought humans and squirels can be the only creatures that plant. WRONG! Attini ants care and grow fungus gardens for food. Fungi? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.253.46.49 (talk) 22:15, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

This already is discussed in the article, and also in greater detail in the Ant-fungus mutualism article. Dyanega (talk) 22:34, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

Useful link to add?

(Commercial link, posted by its author.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobthebugman (talk • contribs) 19:37, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

There are numerous WP policies in place which would be violated by the inclusion of such a link. The fact that the site has useful information on it is overridden by the fact that it is a commercial site, selling products and services, and that you are the author of that site, promoting it here in Wikipedia. If you don't believe me, please familiarize yourself with WP:SOAP. There are literally thousands of useful commercial websites that are not linked to in Wikipedia, and this is another one, I'm afraid. Dyanega (talk) 21:10, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Injured compatriots

Mention what do ants do with injured compatriots. We know assume they take them back to the nest. Is it for rehabilitation hospitalization, or um... reprocessing. Jidanni (talk) 03:34, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

It is unknown for most ant species, and the remainder do all sorts of different things; they do NOT all "take them back to the nest". In fact, it is typical that when an ant dies inside the nest, the carcass is taken OUT and disposed of. That's good hygiene; a dead ant can have a contagion, and the sooner the dead body is removed the lower the risk to the colony. It's the same with the risk of bringing a dead compatriot back: it's not a good idea, and few ants would ever do such a thing. I have no idea where you got this idea from. Dyanega (talk) 01:37, 28 February 2008 (UTC)