Dorylus
1991724
225132650
2008-07-12T01:27:33Z
71.117.219.57
/* Films */
{{Taxobox
| name = Driver ants
| image = Safari ants.jpg
| image_caption = Safari ants in Kenya
| image_width = 250px
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Arthropod]]a
| classis = [[Insect]]a
| ordo = [[Hymenoptera]]
| familia = [[Formicidae]]
| subfamilia = [[Ecitoninae]]
| tribus = [[Dorylini]]
| genus = '''''Dorylus'''''
| genus_authority =
| diversity_link = Dorylus
| diversity = > 60 species
| range_map =
| range_map_width = 250px
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
See text.
}}
The [[army ant]] genus '''''Dorylus''''', also known as '''driver ants''', '''safari ants''' or '''siafu''', are found primarily in central and east [[Africa]], though the range extends to tropical [[Asia]]. There are some 70 species presently recognized, though another 60 names are applied at the rank of subspecies.
Unlike the [[New World]] members of the [[Ecitoninae]], they do form [[anthill]]s, although these are temporary (a few days up to three months). Each [[colony]] can contain over 20 million individuals. As in their New World counterparts, there is a [[soldier]] class among the workers, which is larger, with a very large head and pincer-like [[mandible]]s. They are capable of [[sting (biology)|stinging]], but very rarely do so, relying instead on their powerful shearing jaws<ref name = "H&W">[[Bert Hölldobler|Hölldobler, B.]] & [[E.O. Wilson|Wilson, E.O.]] (1990) ''[[The Ants]]'', [[Harvard University Press]], ISBN 0-674-04075-9</ref>.
==Life cycle==
[[Image:Safari ants tunnel.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Some soldier safari ants make tunnels to provide a safe route for the workers.]]
Seasonally, when [[food]] supplies become short, they leave the hill and form marching columns of up to 50,000,000 ants which are considered a menace to people, though they can be easily avoided; a column can only travel about 20 meters in an hour. It is for those unable to move, or when the columns pass through homes, that there is the greatest risk. There have been reported cases of people - usually the young, infirm, or otherwise debilitated who could not escape - being killed and eventually consumed by them, often dying of [[asphyxiation]].{{Fact|date=March 2008}} Their presence is, conversely, beneficial to certain human communities, such as the [[Maasai]], as they perform a pest prevention service in farming communities, consuming the majority of other crop-pests, from insects to large rats.<ref name = "H&W"/>
The characteristic long columns of ants will fiercely defend against anything that encounters them<ref name = "H&W"/>. Columns are arranged with the smaller ants being flanked by the larger soldier ants. These automatically take up positions as sentries, and set a perimeter corridor in which the smaller ants can run safely. Their bite is severely painful, each soldier leaving two puncture wounds when removed. Removal is difficult, however, as their jaws are extremely strong, and one can pull a soldier ant in two without it releasing its hold. Large numbers of ants can kill small or immobilized animals and eat the flesh. A large part of their diet is earthworms. All ''Dorylus'' species are blind, though they, like most varieties of ants, communicate primarily through [[pheromone]]s<ref name = "H&W"/>.
In mating season [[alate]]s (winged queens and drones) are formed. The drones are larger than the soldiers and the queens are much larger. They mate on the wing, and the queens go off to establish new colonies. As in most [[ant]]s, workers and soldiers are sterile (or non-reproducing) females<ref name = "H&W"/>.
Male driver ants, sometimes known as "sausage flies" (a term also applied to males of New World ecitonines) due to their bloated, sausage-like [[abdomen]]s, are the largest known ants, and were originally believed to be members of a different species. Males leave the colony soon after hatching, but are drawn to the scent trail left by a column of siafu once it reaches sexual maturity. When a colony of driver ants encounters a male, they tear its wings off and carry it back to the nest to be mated with a virgin queen. As with all ants, the males die shortly afterward<ref name = "H&W"/>.
Such is the strength of the ant's jaws, in East Africa they are used as natural, emergency [[suture]]s. [[Maasai]] moroni, when they suffer a gash in the bush, will use the soldiers to stitch the wound, by getting the ants to bite on both sides of the gash, then breaking off the body. This seal can hold for days at a time<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gottrup, F. & David Leaper |year=2004 |title=Wound healing: historical aspects |journal=[[EWMA Journal]] |volume=4 |issue=2 |url=http://www.ewma.org/pdf/fall04/Historical_Aspects.pdf|format=PDF|pages=p. 5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Gudger|first=E. W.|year=1925|title=Stitching Wounds With the Mandibles of Ants and Beetles.|journal=Journal of the American Medical Association|volume=84|pages=pp. 1861–64}}</ref>.
==Species==
[[Image:Dorylus.JPG|thumb|right|350px|''Dorylus'' sp. in Cameroon, eating a grasshopper]]
{|
|
* ''[[Dorylus acutus|D. acutus]]'' <small>[[Felix Santschi|Santschi]], 1937</small>
* ''[[Dorylus aethiopicus|D. aethiopicus]]'' <small>[[Carlo Emery|Emery]], 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus affinis|D. affinis]]'' <small>Shuckard, 1840</small>
* ''[[Dorylus agressor|D. agressor]]'' <small>Santschi, 1923</small>
* ''[[Dorylus alluaudi|D. alluaudi]]'' <small>Santschi, 1914</small>
* ''[[Dorylus atratus|D. atratus]]'' <small>Smith, 1859</small>
* ''[[Dorylus atriceps|D. atriceps]]'' <small>Shuckard, 1840</small>
* ''[[Dorylus attenuatus|D. attenuatus]]'' <small>Shuckard, 1840</small>
* ''[[Dorylus bequaerti|D. bequaerti]]'' <small>Forel, 1913</small>
* ''[[Dorylus bishyiganus|D. bishyiganus]]'' <small>(Boven, 1972)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus braunsi|D. braunsi]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus brevipennis|D. brevipennis]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus brevis|D. brevis]]'' <small>Santschi, 1919</small>
* ''[[Dorylus buyssoni|D. buyssoni]]'' <small>Santschi, 1910</small>
* ''[[Dorylus congolensis|D. congolensis]]'' <small>Santschi, 1910</small>
* ''[[Dorylus conradti|D. conradti]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus depilis|D. depilis]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus diadema|D. diadema]]'' <small>Gerstaecker, 1859</small>
* ''[[Dorylus distinctus|D. distinctus]]'' <small>Santschi, 1910</small>
* ''[[Dorylus ductor|D. ductor]]'' <small>Santschi, 1939</small>
* ''[[Dorylus emeryi|D. emeryi]]'' <small>Mayr, 1896</small>
* ''[[Dorylus erraticus|D. erraticus]]'' <small>(Smith, 1865)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus faurei|D. faurei]]'' <small>Arnold, 1946</small>
* ''[[Dorylus fimbriatus|D. fimbriatus]]'' <small>(Shuckard, 1840)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus fulvus|D. fulvus]]'' <small>(Westwood, 1839)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus funereus|D. funereus]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus furcatus|D. furcatus]]'' <small>(Gerstaecker, 1872)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus fuscipennis|D. fuscipennis]]'' <small>(Emery, 1892)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus gaudens|D. gaudens]]'' <small>Santschi, 1919</small>
* ''[[Dorylus gerstaeckeri|D. gerstaeckeri]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
|
* ''[[Dorylus ghanensis|D. ghanensis]]'' <small>Boven, 1975</small>
* ''[[Dorylus gribodoi|D. gribodoi]]'' <small>Emery, 1892</small>
* ''[[Dorylus helvolus|D. helvolus]]'' <small>(Linnaeus, 1764)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus katanensis|D. katanensis]]'' <small>Stitz, 1911</small>
* ''[[Dorylus kohli|D. kohli]]'' <small>Wasmann, 1904</small>
* ''[[Dorylus labiatus|D. labiatus]]'' <small>Shuckard, 1840</small>
* ''[[Dorylus laevigatus|D. laevigatus]]'' <small>(Smith, 1857)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus lamottei|D. lamottei]]'' <small>Bernard, 1953</small>
* ''[[Dorylus leo|D. leo]]'' <small>Santschi, 1919</small>
* ''[[Dorylus mandibularis|D. mandibularis]]'' <small>Mayr, 1896</small>
* ''[[Dorylus mayri|D. mayri]]'' <small>Santschi, 1912</small>
* ''[[Dorylus moestus|D. moestus]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus montanus|D. montanus]]'' <small>Santschi, 1910</small>
* ''[[Dorylus niarembensis|D. niarembensis]]'' <small>(Boven, 1972)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus nigricans|D. nigricans]]'' <small>[[Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger|Illiger]], 1802</small>
* ''[[Dorylus ocellatus|D. ocellatus]]'' <small>(Stitz, 1910)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus orientalis|D. orientalis]]'' <small>Westwood, 1835</small>
* ''[[Dorylus politus|D. politus]]'' <small>Emery, 1901</small>
* ''[[Dorylus rufescens|D. rufescens]]'' <small>Santschi, 1915</small>
* ''[[Dorylus savagei|D. savagei]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus schoutedeni|D. schoutedeni]]'' <small>Santschi, 1923</small>
* ''[[Dorylus spininodis|D. spininodis]]'' <small>Emery, 1901</small>
* ''[[Dorylus stadelmanni|D. stadelmanni]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus stanleyi|D. stanleyi]]'' <small>Forel, 1909</small>
* ''[[Dorylus staudingeri|D. staudingeri]]'' <small>Emery, 1895</small>
* ''[[Dorylus striatidens|D. striatidens]]'' <small>Santschi, 1910</small>
* ''[[Dorylus termitarius|D. termitarius]]'' <small>Wasmann, 1911</small>
* ''[[Dorylus titan|D. titan]]'' <small>Santschi, 1923</small>
* ''[[Dorylus vishnui|D. vishnui]]'' <small>Wheeler, 1913</small>
* ''[[Dorylus westwoodii|D. westwoodii]]'' <small>(Shuckard, 1840)</small>
* ''[[Dorylus wilverthi|D. wilverthi]]'' <small>Emery, 1899</small>
|}
==Films==
''Dorylus'' ants (called ''jaglavak'' by the [[Mofu]] people of northern [[Cameroon]]) were featured in the documentary ''Master of the Killer Ants'', which aired on [[PBS]] in November 2007.[http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ants/]
''Dorylus'' ants were featured in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'', in which [[Indiana Jones]] calls them ''siafu'' ants. They are portrayed as very violent ants, killing two Russian soldiers and carrying the bodies whole into their colonies. The ants are oversized in the film, and out of their natural habitat; ''siafu'' are not native to [[Peru]]. Their traits would have been more suited for a [[red imported fire ant]] which are native to South America, aggressive, and attack en masse.
==Literature==
Driver ants in [[The Poisonwood Bible]] take over an entire village, forcing the residents to flee [http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/poisonwood/section9.rhtml]
In [[Max Brooks]]' novel [[World War Z|World War Z: An Oral History of The Zombie War]], "''Siafu''" is the Japanese nickname given to Zombies due to their swarming nature and their habit of consuming everything in their wake.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{commons|Dorylus}}
===Videos===
*[http://www.educatedearth.net/video.php?id=3661 Video of a male Siafu being re-assimilated into a colony]
===Pictures===
*[http://www.azfotos.com/animals/insects/ants/ant-pictures/sausage-fly-driver-ants.htm A male "sausage fly", ready to have its wings torn off and carried to a queen for mating]
*[http://taos-telecommunity.org/epow/EPOW-Archive/archive_2003/EPOW-030811.htm Swarms of driver ants (note here they are called matabele ants, an uncommon name)]
[[Category:Ants]]
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