What is it about?
Flower ants are important pest ants worldwide, infesting households and hospital facilities. They're minute slow-moving numerous ants that pester the residents of infested buildings. They'll contaminate food and build satellite nests among clothing and equipment. There are reports of short-circuits in equipment and diseases carried by the ants. This is a detailed morphological description of the different larval stages of this species based on a large laboratory colony, focusing only on the worker caste. The larvae are plump and hairy, with indistinct morphology between the different larval phases. Ultrastructural details are provided for each structure on these larvae, apart from compared comments based on related species, such as fire ants.
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Photo by VINAY GUPTA on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This is the first description of these ant larvae employing high-resolution electron microscopy (SEM), and abundant imagery is provided. The study is part of a major effort in filling in the knowledge gap concerning ant larval development. Data on larval development and morphology is central to understanding the biology of ants.
Perspectives
As our first description of larvae, this study has left some open questions in need for revisiting. Therefore we intend on expanding the study by including another related species, such as the pharaoh's ants Monomorium pharaonis. Also checking for variations in either morphology or number of larval instars from manipulating rearing conditions is within our plans. Hope colleagues will join in and also explore further aspects of this starting point in the investigation.
Dr Eduardo G P Fox
IBCCF / UFRJ
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Morphological Description of the Immatures of the Ant,Monomorium floricola, Journal of Insect Science, March 2010, Oxford University Press (OUP),
DOI: 10.1673/031.010.1501.
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