Explanation of Names
Named for the genus Formica
Numbers
11 subfamilies, 297 genera, and about 8,800 species worldwide
580 species in 74 genera in North America (
nearctica.com)
Identification
Ants have a slender
pedicel ("waist"), which is typical in suborder Apocrita, but ants can be distinguished from wasps by their elbowed antennae. These small insects are usually black, brown, or reddish, and they live in colonies with well-defined
castes that typically comprise a worker caste of sterile females and a reproductive caste of winged males and females.
Virtually all ant keys are for workers only. Since males and often queens, can be radically different in appearance from workers, you have to collect the worker stage at the same time as the reproductives.
See diagram for anatomical terms for ants:
Range
throughout North America and the world
Habitat
Ants generally live underground or in dead wood, but habitat may vary with genus and species.
Food
Food choice depends on particular genus and/or species. Many ants are predators or scavengers while others "milk" aphids and other insects for their sweet secretions, or cultivate fungus on cut leaves.
Life Cycle
All living ant species are
eusocial (meaning, truly social).
Print References
Milne & Milne, pp. 821-832
(2)Internet References
AntWeb (California Academy of Sciences)
AntData (Formicidae of the United States, David Lubertazzi, U. of Connecticut)
Family Formicidae - various information, photos, classification tree (Animal Diversity Web, U. of Michigan)
BioKIDS; Ants - information on ants, geared toward children (BioKIDS, U. of Michigan)
Ants of Washington DC area - a list of 131 species (Georgetown U.)
Zootaxa. Phylogeny and Systematics.
Ants of Minnesota - Keys and Checklist (Carleton College)
