GC: n
S: Penn – https://ento.psu.edu/outreach/extension/ipm/english/community/common-pest-species-of-ants (last access: 11 September 2024); UF – https://onlineentomology.ifas.ufl.edu/ant-anatomy-and-morphology-unlocking-the-secrets-of-ants/ (last access: 11 September 2024).
N: 1. c. 1500 shortening of Middle English ampte (late 14c.), from Old English æmette “ant,” from West Germanic *emaitjon (source also of Old High German ameiza, German Ameise) from a compound of Germanic *e-, *ai- “off, away” + *mai- “cut,” from PIE root *mai- (1) “to cut” (see maim). Thus the insect’s name is, etymologically, “the biter-off.”
Emmet survived into 20c. as an alternative form. By a similar contraction, aunt “a parent’s sister” is from Latin amita. White ant “termite” is from 1729. To have ants in one’s pants “be nervous and fidgety” is from 1934, made current by a popular song; antsy embodies the same notion.
2. Also known as: Formicidae.
- ant, (family Formicidae), any of approximately 10,000 species of insects that are social in habit and live together in organized colonies. Ants occur worldwide but are most numerous, both in numbers and in species, in tropical and subtropical regions. Ants are essential members of the ecosystems they inhabit, and some even serve as keystone species that have a disproportionately large effect on their ecological communities. Some ants are considered pests to humans, and a number are invasive species in areas outside their native ranges.
-
Ants range in size from about 2 to 25 mm (about 0.08 to 1 inch). Their color is usually yellow, brown, red, or black. A few genera (e.g., Pheidole of North America) have a metallic luster.
Typically, an ant has a large head and a slender, oval abdomen joined to the thorax, or midsection, by a small waist. In all ants there are either one or two finlike extensions running across the thin waist region. The antennae are always elbowed. There are two sets of jaws: the outer pair is used for carrying objects such as food and for digging, and the inner pair is used for chewing. Some species, such as the debilitating bullet ant (Paraponera clavata), have a powerful sting at the tip of the abdomen.
- Natural history. Ants are social insects, and the colony is a family community of which every ant is an integral unit. Apart from the community, any one individual cannot properly function or survive, and the larvae are completely dependent upon the continuous care of the adults. There are generally three castes, or classes, within a colony: queens, males, and workers. Male ants play no part in everyday nest activities. They live only for a short time, occur in limited numbers, and are virtual parasites of the colony, which must feed them. The fertile female, the queen, performs only one task: egg laying. The life cycle of the ant has four stages—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—and typically spans a period of 8 to 10 weeks for worker ants.
3. Insects, Centipedes, Spiders, and Scorpions: ant.
- Latin: Formicidae.
- Any of various small insects constituting the family Formicidae of the order Hymenoptera, which typically live in complex social colonies, are usually wingless except for fertile adults in the mating season …
4. Cultural Interrelation: Among many other cultural references, we can mention Atom Ant (1965) from Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=ant (last access: 11 September 2024). 2. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/animal/ant (last access: 11 September 2024). 3. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=ant&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 11 September 2024). 4. Internet Archive – https://archive.org/details/atom-ant_202111 (last access: 11 September 2024).
SYN:
S:
