Ant colony 1056536 225577129 2008-07-14T11:41:57Z Thijs!bot 1392310 robot Adding: [[ca:Formiguer]] An '''ant colony''' is an underground [[lair]] where [[ant]]s live. Colonies consist of a series of underground chambers, connected to each other and the surface of the earth by small tunnels. There are rooms for nurseries, food storage, and mating. The colony is built and maintained by legions of worker ants, who carry tiny bits of dirt in their [[mandible (insect)|mandibles]] and deposit them near the exit of the colony, forming an ant-hill. Ant colonies are [[eusocial]], and are very much like those found in other social [[Hymenoptera]], though the various groups of these developed sociality independently through [[convergent evolution]]. [[Egg (biology)|Eggs]] are laid by one or sometimes more queens. Queens are different in structure, they are the largest ones among all ants, especially their [[abdomen]] and [[thorax]] which are larger than most ants'. Their tasks are to lay eggs and produce more offspring. Most of the eggs that are laid by the queens grow up to become wingless, sterile females called "workers". Periodically, swarms of new winged queens and males (the [[alate]]s) are produced in most species, which leave to mate. The males die shortly thereafter, while the surviving queens either found new colonies or occasionally return to their old one. The surviving queens can live up to around 15 years. People raise ant colonies in captivity for research and as a hobby. An "ant terrarium" used for this purpose is called a [[formicarium]]. They are often made thin enough that you can see the entire colony inside their nest. These are also called [[ant farm]]s. ==Unicoloniality and supercolonies== Most commonly, ants from different nests exhibit aggression towards each other. However, some ants exhibit the phenomenon called '''unicoloniality''': worker ants may freely mix between different nests. Another organization is '''supercoloniality'''. The group of nests where ants do not exhibit mutual aggression is called '''supercolony''', while ants from different supercolonies of the same species do exhibit mutual aggression. Populations in supercolonies do not necessarily span a contiguous area. <ref name=gpk>Tatiana Giraud, Jes S. Pedersen, and Laurent Kelle. ''[http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=122904 Evolution of supercolonies: The Argentine ants of southern Europe]''. The National Academy of Sciences, 2002.</ref> Until 2000, the largest known ant supercolony was on the [[Ishikari subprefecture|Ishikari]] coast of [[Hokkaidō]], [[Japan]]. The colony was estimated to contain 306 million worker ants and one million queen ants living in 45,000 nests interconnected by underground passages over an area of 2.7 km².<ref>Higashi, S. and K. Yamauchi. ''Influence of a Supercolonial Ant Formica (Formica) yessensis Forel on the Distribution of Other Ants in Ishikari Coast''. ''Japanese Journal of Ecology'', No. 29, 257-264, 1997.</ref> In 2000, an enormous supercolony of [[Argentine ant]]s was found in [[Southern Europe]] (report published in 2002). Of 33 ant populations tested along the 6,004 km stretch along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts in Southern Europe 30 belonged to one supercolony with estimated millions of nests and billions of workers, interspersed with three populations of another supercolony.<ref name=gpk/> The researchers claim that this case of unicoloniality cannot be explained by loss of their genetic diversity due to the [[genetic bottleneck]] of the imported ants. Another supercolony, measuring approximately 100 km wide, was found beneath [[Melbourne, Australia|Melbourne]], [[Australia]] in 2004.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3561352.stm Super ant colony hits Australia]''. BBC News, 2004.</ref> ==Ant-hills== [[Image:CPonte anthill2.jpg|thumb|right|A clay ant hill]] An ''ant-hill'', in its simplest form, is a pile of [[earth]], [[sand]], [[pine]] needles, or [[clay]] or a composite of these and other materials that build up at the entrances of the subterranean dwellings of [[Ant Colony|ant colonies]] as they are excavated. A colony is built and maintained by legions of worker [[ant]]s, who carry tiny bits of dirt and/or vegetation in their [[mandible (insect)|mandible]]s and deposit them near the exit of the colony. They normally deposit the dirt or vegetation at the top of the hill to prevent it from sliding back into the colony, but in some species they actively sculpt the materials into specific shapes, and may create nest chambers within the mound. Note that in some areas of the world including English-speaking countries of Africa, in common speech the term ''ant-hill'' (also written as "anthill") refers to a [[Termite#Mounds|termite mound]]. == Forest ant colonies are a protected species in Switzerland == The Swiss law prohibits killing forest ants or tampering with forest ant colonies since 1966.<ref>[http://www.parc-jurassien.ch/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49&Itemid=51 Parc jurassien vaudois - Les Fourmis des bois<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> ==See also== {{commons|Ant hill}} *[[Nuno sa punso]] A Filipino superstition about ant hills. *[[Ant colony optimization]], a technique in [[computer science]] inspired by ant colonies ==External links== [http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?doi=10.1672%2F1536-2442%282004%29004%5B0001%3ATNAOTF%5D2.0.CO%3B2&request=get-document&ct=1#toclink6 Journal of Insect Science: The nest architecture of the Florida harvester ant] [http://www.anthillwood.co.uk Ant Hill Wood, a site about ants] ==References== <references /> [[Category:Myrmecology]] [[Category:Superorganisms]] [[Category:Insect ecology]] [[bg:Мравуняк]] [[ca:Formiguer]] [[de:Ameisenhügel]] [[es:Hormiguero]] [[fr:Fourmilière]] [[io:Formikaro]] [[ia:Formicario]] [[pl:Mrowisko]] [[pt:Formigueiro]] [[ru:Муравейник]] [[scn:Furmicularu]] [[fi:Muurahaiskeko]]