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What’s the big deal about ants?
We might not notice them, but ants surround us, occupying nearly
every type of habitable nook and cranny across the globe. Right
now, ants snuggle up to your house, lay out their doormats in
front of the trees in your yard, and snooze under your park
benches. Some even nest inside the acorns littering the ground!
We might not notice them, but they’re there, and they shape,
literally shape, our world. Look at the colossal trees in your forest,
the plants around your lawn. Ants like winnow ants plant the
forest understory, ultimately contouring plant distribution that
becomes those giants of trees, animal homes, abounding green
life. Other ants help turn soil (more than earthworms in some
places!), break up decomposing wood and animals, and keep the
canopy healthy.
Ants creep across our yards taking care of business for us in
much the same way. They eat termites and chase caterpillars out
of our gardens. Even though some people think of ants as the tiny
creatures that ruin their picnics, of the nearly 1,000 ant species
living in North America, fewer than 30 are true pests, and fewer
still actually can hurt us.
Most ants spend their time pulling the threads together in the quilt
of the natural world. Without these threads, the quilt would fall
apart, becoming disconnected pieces of fabric. In this book, you
will meet our most common ants. Odds are you can see these
ladies tiptoeing all around you. See how beautiful they are, with
their spines and ridges, their colors and proud legs, each feature
lending itself to the individual’s task. See their work, how they
build the world around us as they move about our lives.
Before you dive in, let’s start with
some basic ant biology...
Like all insects, adult ants have three body segments: the head,
thorax, and abdomen.
Heads up
Their windows to the world, ant heads are packed with everything
ants need to detect their environments. With tiny eyes for
detecting light, color, and shadow; brains for memory and
decisions; mouths for tasting; antennae for touch and smelling,
ant heads are one-stop shops for sensory overload.
Thorax
Ant thoraxes are mainly for moving. While an ant’s nerve cord,
esophagus, and main artery course through its thorax, connecting
head to bottom, thoraxes are mostly all legs and muscle. Every
one of an ant’s six legs sticks out of her thorax, and when queens
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