Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their geniculate (elbowed) antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.

Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen individuals often living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories with sizeable nest that consist of millions of individuals or into the hundreds of millions in super colonies. Typical colonies consist of various castes of sterile, wingless females, most of which are workers (ergates), as well as soldiers (dinergates) and other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called “drones” and one or more fertile females called “queens” (gynes). The colonies are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.

Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in moist tropical ecosystems and may exceed the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals. Their success in so many environments has been attributed to their social organisation and their ability to modify habitats, tap resources, and defend themselves. Their long co-evolution with other species has led to mimetic, commensal, parasitic, and mutualistic relationships.

Ant societies have division of labour, communication between individuals, and an ability to solve complex problems. These parallels with human societies have long been an inspiration and subject of study. Many human cultures make use of ants in cuisine, medication, and rites. Some species are valued in their role as biological pest control agents. Their ability to exploit resources may bring ants into conflict with humans, however, as they can damage crops and invade buildings. Some species, such as the red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta) of South America, are regarded as invasive species in other parts of the world, establishing themselves in areas where they have been introduced accidentally.

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  • asa_red_heathen [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    20·
    2 months ago
    sad stuff

    Last monday we had to say goodbye to my sweet old lady Lexi after almost 20 years. Every day I come home from work and I expect her to come up to me screaming for food or begging for pets and it hits me all over again.

  • anonochronomus [comrade/them, she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    19·
    2 months ago

    CW Alcoholism

    spoiler

    My drinking has been way out of hand for a while now. I’m probably going to try to go to detox today. If y’all don’t hear from me for a week, I’m not dead, just getting some help.

  • viva_la_juche [they/them, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    19·
    2 months ago

    Not to beat off writers of my own political tendency too much but it’s so funny to me that marxists wrote this great piece of art that is a self deprecating love letter to communism and you can’t even really fully appreciate those parts of its writing without being one. People who aren’t can’t even decipher that part or tell if it’s for or against it

    Meanwhile right wing art is like “and the big Mary sue ceo was soooo smart and everyone loved him or was super jealous bc they were poor and he was beautiful and hung big fat dong and was super right all the time. One time he and his friends went to a farm and were super prosperous while the rest of the world went to shit. Which is exactly what would happen in the real world, and what definitely WOULDNT happen if a bunch of ceos left all of a sudden is that no one would notice. You need us! We’re great!”

  • Poogona [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    ANT GENERAL

    Ants are famous for getting things done, right? But how do the get anything done without a strict hierarchy, without a foreman to give orders, without a little ant king and tiny ant knights to get those lazy bastards to work?

    When one ant is far away from the colony, and comes across something worth carrying back, it begins to pull it, and gives off a recruitment pheromone in the effort. Others smell that pheromone, and they come to help, because that’s what they do. Now, the individual who has come to the task second begins to pull, and the first ant is now pushing. Soon there are many ants involved, and still only one ant is pulling. Every other ant pushes in the direction of the most recent individual to have joined the task, who pulls. This is likely because the newest individual has the most up to date information about where the colony is in relation to the object being carried, and so with each new ant that joins the task, the direction becomes more accurate.

    Picture it like you and a few friends trying to carry a couch inside but you are blindfolded. Someone new joins and starts pulling, and you all just go with the direction that new guy is going. Simple as.

    (I will dump more ant lore before this general closes)

    • Commiejones [comrade/them, he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      9·
      2 months ago

      While the ants are just wandering around looking for stuff they also lay down a pheromone so they can find their way home. They can tell how old the pheromone trail is so if they find a pile of sugar and bring some back they will get some buddies and they will all follow the first guys trail but if someone else finds the sugar pile and has a shorter route home they’ll start following that path. Eventually they have deduced the most efficient path by process of elimination.

      • Poogona [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        8·
        2 months ago

        Okay I’m gonna add to this by bringing up tandem running. You can potentially see this behavior right now if you go look for some ants on the porch or whatever. It’s just learning and teaching, it’s cool as hell.

        Basically an ant (usually a younger one) that is looking to “learn” a path, usually because another ant has the scent of a good spot on them that’s fresher than their own (implying the route is faster), will engage in this tandem running with the ant that knows the better path already. The leading ant stops periodically along the way, and the follower will typically run all over the place before returning to the leader and tapping it with its antennae so that they can continue. They’ll do this routine many times before they reach the end of the path, and voila, the follower ant has learned a new path through those intermittent bursts of exploration.

        Here’s a good video of ants doing it (good in that it’s clear, the music and video quality is all pretty early YouTube)(https://youtu.be/X2C7Sy2oPik)

  • autism_2 [any, it/its]@hexbear.netEnglish
    18·
    2 months ago

    Writing should lead with the conclusion. Authors yap too much and I don’t retain any of the information because I don’t know what to do with it. Tell me what you want me to believe and THEN write your 9 paragraphs justifying it. Fuck. Reading theory is like trying to guess what a Rube Goldberg machine finally does while looking through a paper tube.

    • Cutecity [he/him]@hexbear.net
      English
      6·
      2 months ago

      Part of the reasons scientific papers have an abstract. I learned in Uni that you should read the conclusion first anyway and then maybe the analysis/discussion, methods and graphs if you want to critique or reproduce the work, and the intro if you don’t know much about the subject. I think it’s among the rights of the reader. Just do it!

  • ColonelKataffy [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    15·
    2 months ago

    all hexbear’s powerposters should logout and create fresh anonymous accounts. there’s a weird “cool kid club” dynamic with the same few names controlling the site’s culture.