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Leptomyrmex
is a large, leggy, often colorful genus restricted to eastern Australia, New Guinea, and New Caledonia. The skittish movements and long legs of these distinctive insects give them the common name "spider ants". Some workers in each nest specialize as living storage containers called repletes, their abdomens greatly distended.


An absconding Leptomyrmex darlingtoni worker climbs a small bush with a larva after the photographer has disturbed her nest at the base of the bush. A number of ant species display this absconding behavior upon nest disturbance, possibly as a defense against attacks by subterranean army ants
2.Acromyrmex
is the more diverse of the two leafcutting ant genera (the other is Atta). These distinctive spiny insects cut fresh vegetation to feed to a specialized fungus that grows only in ant nests. The fungus serves as the ants' food source and in return is cultivated and dispersed by the ants. Like all fungus-growing ants, Acromyrmex is found only in the new world tropics and subtropics.




An Acromyrmex balzani worker carries a grass stem back to her nest. Leafcutter species tend to specialize on either broadleaf plants or grasses.
3. Amblyopone
is an ancient group of predaceous ants found worldwide, sometimes called "dracula ants" for the adults' habit of feeding on larval hemolymph. These subterranean ants have elongate mandibles and a characteristic broad posterior attachment of the petiole. Many species are specialist predators of centipedes.


Amblyopone australis




LIFE
Farming Ants: Leafcutters and Fungus Growers

Hundreds of ant species live as farmers in the warmer regions of North and South America. These insects- a single evolutionary radiation- cultivate an edible fungus fed with bits of vegetative debris, or in the case of the leafcutter ants, with live vegetation.
Seed-Harvesting Ants

Granivory has evolved numerous times among the ants, especially in arid regions where seed stores help colonies survive extended periods of dearth.
Cryptic Ants: Life in the Litter

Scarcely noticed by human observers, thousands of cryptic ant species live entirely underground in soil, rotting wood and leaf litter. These small, often blind insects are predators, scavengers, and farmers of root insects.
Army Ants and Other Nomads

Several lineages of ants in the warmer regions of the world have evolved a lifestyle of nomadic predation.
Social Parasites

Images of ants that make their living off the labors of other species.
Tramps & Invaders

The rise of human civilization has brought significant changes to the world's ant fauna. Previously obscure ants thrive in new urban and human-modified landscapes, transforming themselves into damaging pest species. A great many species have risen to global dominance by hitchhiking around with trade, cargo, and commerce.
Trap-Jaw Ants

Several lineages of ants have independently evolved an effective predatory device: spring-loaded mandibles that snap shut on a hair trigger.
STUDY
Myrmecology: the Study of Ants
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FIGHTING
1. Harvester ants (Aphaenogaster cockerelli) tear apart a queen leafcutter ant (Acromyrmex versicolor) they have caught after a leafcutter mating flight. Ants won't often eat members of their own species, but they will happily consume ants of other species.





2. Leafcutter ants don't normally fight with other types of ants, but they can be brutal towards other leafcutters. Here, a trio of Acromyrmex striatus workers team up to kill an Atta saltensis leafcutter that has wandered into their territory.




3. Nomamyrmex army ants are among the few animals that successfully attack leafcutter ant nests. The leafcutters are not without their defenses. Here two Atta workers attack and kill a Nomamyrmex esenbeckii scout, preventing the army ants from discovering the leafcutter's trail.



4. Azteca alfari Cecropia ants do not tolerate other species on their host tree. When intruders are encountered, the Azteca patrollers work together to pin them down. Interestingly, the offending insects aren't always killed. This Camponotus was simply dragged to the edge of the plant and dropped.




5. Her nest breached by attacking Forelius nigriventris (at right), a fire ant adopts typical defensive position: stinger raised and exuding a droplet of volatile venom.






COMMUNICATION [belom edit]
pheromones. Ants have more developed chemical messages than other related species due to their constant direct contact with the ground. A forager who finds food leaves a pheromone trail along the ground on its way to the place it considers its home. This place is typically located through the use of remembered landmarks and the position of the sun as detected by compound eyes. It can also be through special sky polarization detecting fibers within the eyes.

This pheromone trail will be followed by other ants within a short period of time. The trail is further reinforced as it attracts more ants until the food is exhausted. With the food gone, the trail is no longer reinforced as it fails to further attract ants and slowly dissipates.

This particular behavior would explain how ants are able to easily adapt to changes in the environment. Ants merely leave an established path that has been blocked by an obstacle to find new routes towards its desired location. A successful discovery of another route results to the marking of the new trail by a returning ant, which is usually the shortest way.

The use of pheromone by ants serves other purposes. A crushed ant will emit an alarm pheromone which is capable of sending nearby ants into an attack frenzy when delivered in high concentration. An alarm pheromone in low concentration merely attracts other ants. It can even be used by the ants to confuse their enemies through the so-called propaganda pheromone.

Ants smell with their long, thin antennae, just like other insects. Their antennae are fairly mobile since it has a distinct elbow joint after an elongated first segment. They also come in pairs and are able to provide information about direction as well as intensity. Pheromones enable ants to detect what particular task groups other ants belong to. The queen also produces a certain pheromone that prevents the workers to begin raising new queens. Ants attack and defend themselves by biting or stinging.

It is believed that ants learn behavior by interactive teaching. This is the process by which a follower ant obtains knowledge from the tutoring of the nest-mate teacher. The teacher and the follower are acutely sensitive to the progress of the other.

Wasps are considered the ancestors of ants. However, unlike them, ants usually lose or never develop their wing and thus primarily travel by walking. There are some species of ants that are capable of leaping and gliding.

Gliding is the most common trait among arboreal ants. They use their flattened heads and legs to steer in a controlled fall until they again contact the trunk of the tree from which they fell or leaped to avoid predators. A notable specie that is able to leap is the Jerdon’s Jumping Ant.

There are species of ants that are known to attack and take over the colonies of other ant species. Some may be less of an expansionist but would still attack colonies to steal eggs or larvae which can either be eaten or raised as workers. Some ants rely on captured worker ants to care for them as they are unable to capably feed themselves. One such specie is the Amazon Ant.