s on honeydew producing pests to become apparent. Control in homes and yards include sanitation (e.g. removal of food scraps), closing points of entry to homes, and removing landscaping features that promote favorable microclimates - especially excess water sources.
Leaf-cutting Ants. These are commonly found in many New World tropical areas. In such areas, columns of these ants frequently can be seen crawling up the trunks of trees and cutting small discs from the leaves. In some areas these insects are so common that they become major agricultural pests.
Leaf cutting ants carrying leaf discs.
Some of these ants exhibit polymorphism (different form within a caste –in this case the workers) to an extreme. There are 4 different forms within the worker caste, namely the minima, minors, media and maxima. The minima are the smallest form of the adults and function to care for the brood (larvae and pupae) and fungal gardens. Media workers forage for and carry the leaf discs deep into their nests, where they are licked, cut into smaller pieces, dampened with an anal secretion and finally formed into a bed of moist pulp. The newly formed beds are then planted with fungi from established beds. As the fungus grows, it is harvested and fed to the larvae. Most leaf cutting ants are quite particular and typically cultivate and harvest only one species of fungus. Media workers continuously ‘weed out’ any alien species of fungi that infest their gardens. It is believed that a few species actually produce fungicidal substances from their salivary glands, which chemically aid in the weeding process. In some species, when the swarming queens leave the colony, they carry the strands of fungi with them in pouches below their heads. Once new colonies are begun, the strands are ‘planted’ to assure a new garden of the correct species of fungi. The maxima are the largest of the forms with enlarged heads and protruding mandible. These of course are the soldiers of the colony and function to protect the colony against intruders.
In a few species of leaf-cutting ants, the minor caste performs a rather specialized function. These smaller workers frequently accompany the larger foraging leaf-gatherers; they do not assist in leaf cutting; but ride back to the nest either on the leaf portion or on the thorax of the media. Their sole function is to protect the media by snapping their mandibles at a species of parasitic fly that attempts to lay eggs on the media’s head.
Carpenter Ants. On occasion, carpenter ants are confused with termites by the homeowner. These two are easily distinguished by any of a number of characteristics. As in all ants, the abdomen is connected to the thorax by a narrow waist, or petiole, while the abdomen of a termite is broadly joined to the thorax. Also, in the winged forms, a termite’s wings extend far beyond the tip of the abdomen and their front and hind wings are of equal size and shape. In winged ants, the hind wings are much smaller than the front wings and both rarely extend beyond the tip of the abdomen. Many carpenter ants are large and typically black in color. Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not eat wood and rarely cause damage to structures. In California, their nests may occur inside the wooden parts of homes, but in such cases they usually have occupied abandoned drywood termite nests. Carpenter ants eat a variety of things, including other insects.
A common carpenter ant.
Army Ants. The most spectacular and well-known ants are the legionary, or army, ants of the humid tropical forests. These ants do not construct nests, but form temporary clusters called bivouacs in the shelter of fallen trees or in other partially exposed situations. The workers form a solid mass up to a yard wide, which consists of layer after layer of individuals hooked together by their tarsal claws. The queen, larvae, pupae, and eggs are located in the center of this mass.
An army ant, not considered as dangerous to humans as commonly believed.
The night is passed in a tight cluster, but at the first sign of light the cluster dissipat