Monday, July 29, 2019

Species Profile: Honeypot Ant and Carpenter ant

Hello again, welcome back to animals under threat. Today, we will be covering a species of ant that have specialized workers that gorged themselves on food that is provided by other worker ants causing their abdomens to swell and they become living larders. Say hello to the Honeypot ant.

The honeypot ant is a name used for specialized workers ants that have large abdomens. As this is used in many ant species, this blog post will be covering the ant species Camponotus inflatus or carpenter ants. Carpenter ants belong to the genus Camponotus which is the most diverse group of ants in Australia. They are characterized by their light-coloured feet, black coloured body and hairs covering the lower and anterior part of the head and the rest of the body. (Antwiki, 2019). The mandible of the carpenter ants contains six teeth which helps the ant break down desert flowers and small insects that is needed to feed the larders (antark, 2019).

Side view of Carpenter ant by Antwiki and Honeypot ant by Hans Boessem.

Carpenter ants build their nest in hot areas, mostly around the edges of deserts. Before the rain season, the living larders or repletes are fed until their abdomen are swollen and they are unable to move. Their abdomens look similar to honey which gives them the nickname “Honeypot ant” (Shattuck ,1999). When it is the wet season and food is scarce, worker ants tap the head of the replete and the replete regurgitates food for the workers. This continues until the wet season is over or the replete runs out of food (Nature, 1881).

Carpenter ants are under threat from climate change and be used in food industry. Many of the desert flowers that the ants feed on depend on the wet season which are becoming shorter due longer dry seasons. The replete “honeypot ant” have been harvested for dishes in the food industry as they are considered to be delicacy (Ecological Management & Restoration, 2012).

Next time we will be covering a species of dolphin that is the smallest dolphin in the world.

References


"Edible insects and management of country", 2012, Ecological Management & Restoration, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 97-99.

"Observations on Ants, Bees, and Wasps 1", 1881, Nature, vol. 23, no. 585, pp. 255-258.

Shattuck, S.O. 1999, Australian ants: their biology and identification, CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne.

Picture references

http://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Camponotus_inflatus


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