Ants

Ants are insects eusosial from Formisidae family, and ants included in the order Himenoptera along with bees and wasps. Ants are divided into more than 12,000 groups, with a large proportion of which in the tropics. Ant colony is known to nest and nest-regular, which sometimes consist of thousands of ants per colony. Types of ants are divided into worker ants, ants, male and queen ants. One colony can occupy and use a large area to support their activities. Ant colony is sometimes called super-organisms due to their colonies to form a union.

Evolusi
The family Formicidae is part of the order Hymenoptera, which includes dragonflies, bees and wasps. Ants are descended from wasps Vespoidea generation. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that ants evolved from a dragonfly vespoid on the Cretaceous about 120 million to 170 million years ago.

Morfologi
Ant body consists of three parts, namely the head, mesosoma (chest), and metasoma (abdomen). Ant morphology is quite clear compared to other insects that also has an antenna, metapleural glands, and the second stomach that connects to the stem of the ants to form a narrow waist (pedunkel) between the mesosoma (thorax and the abdomen) and metasoma (abdomen less abdominal segments in the petiole). Petiole that can be formed by one or two nodes (only the second, or the second and third abdominal segments can be realized). ant chest there are three pairs of legs and at the end of each leg there is such a small claws to help climb up and rests on the surface. Most of the male and female ant queen candidates have wings. However, after mating the female will shed their wings and become the queen of wingless ants. Worker and soldier ants do not have wings.

Development

Life of an ant starts from an egg. If the egg has been fertilized, the female incubated ant (diploid); if not the male (haploid). Ants are holometabolism, which is growing through a complete metamorphosis, passing through larval and pupa stages (with the pupa of exarate) before they become adults. Larval stage is a very vulnerable stage - more details ant larvae have no legs at all - and can not protect herself. The difference between queens and workers (which are both female), and between castes of workers, if any, determined at the time of the feeding time is still a larva. The food given to larvae by a process called trophallaxis where an ant regurgitates food previously stored in the crop for communal storage. This also means that the ants use to the distribution of food grown on other adult ants. Larvae and pupa should be kept at a fairly constant temperature to ensure they grow well, so often moved to various Brood Chambers in the colony.