The Underground

Insect-O-Fact #19 – Ant Society

by drocha on November 22, 2011 at 11:33 AM

Ant colonies form some of the most complex societies on earth. Some myrmecologists suggest that ant colonies could be considered a super organism in which individual ants make up the individual “cells”, all working together performing specialized tasks for the benefit of the whole.

Ants are born into one of three castes all with a specialized and important task required of them within the community. The worker caste are just that, the peasant class that performs most of the day to day operations of the colony. The soldier caste are bred to be the army and police force of the superorganism, acting as an immune system would. Lastly we have reproductives that are in most cases winged and are capable of starting a new colony or breeding immediately to supplment a growing colony in the case of some ant species.

Aside from supporting their own needs, ants are more like humans than say Termites as they also have mutualistic relationships with other species as well. Many different species of beetles, aphids, fungi and other insects also live in ant colonies perform specific tasks for the superorganism much like beneficial microbes in the human body. The ants farm fungus and herd and milk aphids and welcome others bugs in that have something to contribute to the colony. Truly an amazing society much like our own.

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Insect-O-Fact #5 – Ladybugs

by drocha on November 10, 2011 at 8:57 AM

Posted In: Blog, Insect-O-Facts

Ladybugs have fascinated human kind since the begining of history and have developed a mutualism with us. Since the middle ages western society has used these friendly non-stinging bugs as pest control for their crops. Using their green thumbs these crops flourished from their meticulous maintenance, and many people soon came to associate them with good luck. Throughout the middle ages they earned a variety of Amiable names including; Sun Calf, God’s Lamb, or God’s Little Thief. In recent years they were even used as pest control in South Western Ontario and were EVERYWHERE shortly thereafter. Thankfully they declined very quickly as they did their job and started to run out of food.

Editor’s note: Paul seems to think they are adorable, but to this author they are a plague that should be used sparingly. I was terrorized one summer by these biting monstrosities! Keep them fed and they are peaceful and awesome but too many of them they are close to becoming the most annoying bugs in existence. Still not harmful but VERY annoying. GO HIVE!