ants are a wide family in the order Hymenoptera ants have different types depend on their morphology and nutrietion ..etc

1. Chiro Nuri Qadr

2.  Miscellaneous ants are different kinds of ants
which comprise a single family ,the Formicidae
within the order hymenoptera.

3.  Kingdom: Animalia
 Phylum: Arhtropoda
 Class: Insecta
 Order: Hymenoptera
 Suborder: Apocrita
 Super family: Vespoidea
 Family: Formicidae
 Subfamily:Myrmicinae
 Tribe: Solenopsidinae
 Genus: Solenopsis
 Species: S.invicta

4.  The name came from the Greek words humen and pteron,
meaning membrane and wing.
 Holometabolous insects.
 They have egg, larval, pupal, and adult stages.
 They are one of the five megadiverse insect orders
 they are cosmopolitan ,but most species occure in tropics
 they include phytophagous,parasitoid, and predatory taxa,
 both solitary and highly social species.
 They range in size from large to very tiny ones.
 They have to pair of membraneous wings.fore wings are larger
than hind wings.
 The ovipositor is used not only for laying eggs, it is also used to
pass venom and/or other secretions to the place of oviposition.
 all have a haplodiploid sex determination system.
 Prothorax is reduced in size forming a narrow band between
the head and mesothorax.

8.  all ants are eusocial,except a few species which secondarily lost thier
worker caste.
 Ants have diverse systems of communication, but by far the most
important medium for signaling involves the chemicals known as
pheromones.
 the nest is covered with nopal, dried grass, and fresh weeds to maintain
an environment suitable for survival and regrowth of the colony
 Polymorphism in ants is accompanied by polyethism
 Winged individuals are called alates
 Workers are called repletes, store the honey in the abdomen
 Not all ants are predatory. Some ants harvest grain and seeds and others
feed on insect-produced honeydew.
 Antennae is geniculate.
 Chewing mouthpart.

9. Desert ant
Weaver ants

10. Leaf_cutter ants
Fire ants
Red ants

11.  Reddish brown ants are well known for their
aggressiveness and stings that are used for defence.
 They have alkaloidal venoms that produce a burning
sensation.
 Nests are polygyne (multiple queen)
 Insect venoms are effective specialized allomones
typically consisting of watersoluble proteins and
other components that are injected into the body of
an assailant.
 Honeydew accounts as a sole food for them.

13. Electron micrograph of head

14.  Eggs are white.
 They are either fertilized or unfertilized.
 Fertilized eggs produce potential queens and
workers
 Unfertilized eggs produce male..

16.  The larval stage is composed of four instar.
 Is apodous and resemble maggot.
 Only the fourth instar can digest solids directly,
and it is the only path for processing of solid
food particles in the colony
 The head is only weakly sclerotized or much
reduced .

17. Electron micrograph

18.  Pupae are adecticous and exarate without
coccon.

20.  Adult of fire ants have two castes:
-Reproductive caste
-Worker caste

21.  They are winged and fertile.
 Consist of both sexes ;male and female (queen).

22.  Males are haploid.
 having only a single set of chromosomes.
 Males produce genetically homogeneous sperm.

24.  Queen is diploid.
 They can lay both fertilized and unfertilized eggs.
 They loose their wings after mating.
 They are about 7 mm long in size.

26.  The workers range in size from small to large
from about 2–5 mm in length.
 Fire ant workers can feed only on liquids: they
have filters in their digestive tract that prevent
the ingestion of solids.
 have reduced ovaries and are irreversibly sterile.
 There are two main worker castes, ‘nurses’ and
‘foragers’ whose members span a wide age-size
range.
 Workers have sting appartus for defence.

30.  They have complete metamorphoses.

33.  Economically:
important pests as seed distributors and as seed
harvesters, in the turnover of soils, and in the
regulation of aphid numbers and the
minimization of outbreaks of defoliating insects.

34.  One oddity about fire ants is their evident attraction
to electrical fields. They frequently enter electrical
boxes such as outside air conditioners, traffic boxes,
and lights, where they chew wires and short out the
circuits.
 Fire ants contract their muscles, which makes the
raft temporarily less buoyant but traps air better,
preventing drowning.
 They gather up all the eggs in the colony and will
make their way up through the underground
network of tunnels, and when the flood waters rise
above the ground, they'll link up together in these
massive rafts.

37. Distribution:
Extremely common and cosmopolitan.
 Habitat:
 They build their nests in mounds of soil
outdoors, in landscape areas.

38.  Books :
 Resh, Vincent H. and Carde, Ring T. (2003). Encycloprdia of Insects. 1st ed.
Elsevier Science.(USA). 20, 29, 31, 165, 242, 293, 415, 416, 436, 534, 535,
536, 540, 541 pp.
 Gullan, P.J. and Cranston, P.S. (2005). The Insects.3rd ed. Blackwell
Publishing Ltd. USA. 17, 312, 312 pp.
 Gillott, Cedric .(2005). Entomology. 3rd ed. Springer. Netherlands. 332.
 Research articles:
 John T. Mirenda and S. Bradleigh Vinson.(May 1981). Division of labour
and specification of castes in the red imported fire ant Solenopsis
invicta buren. Animal Behaviour, 29(2):410-420
 Website :
 http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/04/pictures/110425-
fire-ants-life-rafts-swarms-science-
proceedings/?source=link_fb20110425fireantrafts#/fire-ants-form-life-
rafts-edge.