Great shots of Cepahalotes clypeatus, the golden turtle ant, taken by Alex Wild. Turtle ants have a special subgroup of workers with broad flat heads which can be used to plug nest entrances. Some species of Cephalotes are also called glider ants and can use their flattened bodies to glide through the air and return to the trees they dwell in should they take a tumble.
As far as I could find any informations it seems to be like this: male ants (which are only born to reproduce and than be eaten by the ladies) do have two testicels and two deferent ducts in their abdomen, but they dont have a penis. It´s more like they let the sperm out through the abdomen as a drop and the female ant, which is almost always the queen, takes in the drop through her abdomen.
Old but gold!
Little correction:
The male ants dont get eaten after mating. However there are several reasons why the male ants die after the mating ceremony. First of all, male ants are born from unfertilized eggs, and
are homozygous. There is thus, a small genetic disadvantage that male
ants have. The lethal and sub-vital alleles (which are recessive) have
higher chance of being expressed in them. This means they are born with a higher mortality rate. Some also die of hunger because their colony doesnt take care of them after they fulfilled their task.
However, there are several ant species that act differently (army ants for example). Thats what I found out after some research. If somebody would like to add something or found a mistake, just tell me. :)
A really great and more detailed explanation about ant penises you can find in the comment from Sacculetta! Who knew ant sex can even be dramatic?
Superheroes aren’t always people donning splendid capes, and wearing undies on the outside of their tights. We think this mighty little ant qualifies too. Teguh Santosa took these photos outside his home in Indonesia as the stubborn insect refused to move out of the way of a marble that was rolling towards it.
“The brilliant little critter refused to be fazed by the giant obstacle which formed a shape like a bubble due to rain. The tiny ant must have thought he was losing his own marbles when - despite his best attempts - the towering ‘bubble’ just wouldn’t burst… Mr Santosa had placed marbles on a wall to try and divert the marching ants towards him - but this one refused to be moved as a marble set off down a slope.”
He’s like a teeny-tiny Indiana Jones who decided to stop running away from the temple boulder and face it down instead. More power to you, Super Ant!
A new behaviour has been discovered in the fascinating life of ants: when faced with a food item that is too large for it to handle alone, the stinging ant Pachycondyla chinensis quite literally grabs a friend to help out. After assessing that an object such as a cockroach is too big to carry, the ant goes back to the nest and simply picks up another worker in its jaws - who will passively oblige, as seen in this image. The ant then returns to place it in front of the food, and with a bit of teamwork, the food can be shifted to the nest.
Ref: Ant workers carry friends over to help forage for food. BBC News [link]
