noun
definition
Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.
definition
A Web spider.
verb
definition
To rub insects, especially ants, on one's body, perhaps to control parasites or clean feathers.
Examples of ants in a Sentence
One noteworthy feature in Liberia, however, is the relative absence of mosquitoes, and the white ants and some other insect pests are not so troublesome here as in other parts of West Africa.
Several battalions of soldiers, in their shirt sleeves despite the cold wind, swarmed in these earthworks like a host of white ants; spadefuls of red clay were continually being thrown up from behind the bank by unseen hands.
Thus we find throughout the order a degree of care for offspring unreached by other insects, and this family-life has, in the best known of the Hymenoptera - ants, wasps and bees - developed into an elaborate social organization.
In the hive-bee and among ants, on the other hand, there are constant structural distinctions between queen and worker, and the function of the queen bee in a hive is confined to egg-laying, the labour, of the community being entirely done by the workers.
The food consists of fruits, honey and white ants.
Many ants possess several different forms of worker, adapted for special duties.
The early larval stage of the " Lobster Moth " (Stauropus fagi), for example, presents a general resemblance, due to a combination of shape, colour, attitude and movements, to black ants, the swollen head and the caudal disk with its two tentacles representing respectively the abdomen and antenna-bearing head of the model.
The most perfect cases, however, are exhibited by those species which imitate ants.
Swarming is not the only means for carpenter ants to produce new nests.
It's nice to see critters that the fire ants haven't driven out or eaten.
Thus, wasps catch flies; worker ants make raids and carry off weak insects of many kinds; bees gather nectar from flowers and transform it into honey within their stomachs - largely for the sake of feeding the larvae in the nest.
Fragments of wings from the Lias and Oolitic beds have been referred to ants and bees, but the true nature of these remains is doubtful.
The Formicoidea are the ants.
The ants which form this group are readily distinguished by the differentiation of the females into winged " queens" and wingless " workers."
This section includes a number of families characterized by the backward extension of the prothorax to the tegulae and distinguished from the ants by the absence of " nodes " at the base of the abdomen.
The Vespidae or social wasps have " queens " and " workers " like the ants, but both these forms of female are winged; the claws on their feet are simple.
Most of the genera are " solitary " in habit, the female sex being undifferentiated; but among the humble-bees and hive-bees we find, as in social wasps and ants, the occurrence of workers, and the consequent elaboration of a wonderful insect-society.
His dominions contained the monstrous ants that dug gold and the fish that gave the purple; they produced all manner of precious stones and all the famous aromatics.
Locusts occasion much damage, and ants of various kinds are often a plague.
His attention having been drawn to the blighting of the young shoots of fruit-trees, which was commonly attributed to the ants found upon them, he was the first to find the Aphides that really do the mischief; and, upon searching into the history of their generation, he observed the young within the bodies of their parents.
He carefully studied also the history of the ant and was the first to show that what had been commonly reputed to be "ants' eggs" are really their pupae, containing the perfect insect nearly ready for emersion, whilst the true eggs are far smaller, and give origin to "maggots" or larvae.
Insects are comparatively few, but ants swarm destructively in the heat of the year.
The idea of an Incarnation of God is absurd; why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker?
Scorpions and tarantulas are numerous, and lizards, frogs, beetles, ants, butterflies, moths and flies are abundant.
To the traveller, the most conspicuous among the Mexican insects, perhaps, are the butterflies, beetles, ants and the myriads of mosquitoes, midges, fleas and chinches.
In pleasing contrast to such pests are the butterflies of all sizes and colours, beetles of an inconceivable variety of size, shape and colouration, and ants of widely dissimilar appearance and habits.
These ants will strip a tree in a few hours and are very destructive to fruit plantations.
Most destructive, also, are the termites or white ants, whose ravages are to be seen in the crumbling woodwork and furniture of all habitations in the hot zones.
The Termitidae (so-called " white ants ") are the other family of Isoptera.
Insects are numerous, and of about 500 species of beetle some 80% are not known to exist elsewhere; cockroaches and green locusts are pests, as are, also, mosquitoes,' wasps, scorpions, centipedes and white ants, which have all been introduced from elsewhere.
Coleoptera (beetles) supply instances of mimicry of ants, wasps and Ichneumonids, and some defenceless forms of this order mimic others that are protected.
Sometimes it is only the males of a species of spider that mimic ants, as in the case of Ildebaha mutilloides and I.
Many other spiders belonging to the Theridiidae and Linyphiidae also mimic ants; but it is needless to enumerate them, the most perfect examples of this phenomenon being found in the families Clubionidae and Salticidae.
It has therefore been suggested by some and taken for granted by others that the resemblance comes under the category of aggressive mimicry and that the ants are deluded by this resemblance into regarding the spiders as members of their own species.
That the ants do not destroy them is certain; but that they are deceived by the superficial similarity of the spiders to themselves is highly improbable, for these insects are capable of distinguishing a strange ant belonging to the same species if it comes from another colony.
Garden ants tend not carry harmful germs or disease.
Yucatan's hammocks are as ubiquitous as its ants, even in luxury hacienda hotels.
The ants are usually active between March and October and can be seen climbing trees where they collect honeydew produced by aphids.
Large numbers of ants can prevent the effectiveness of lacewing larvae.
The Council will treat black and red ants ' nests in domestic properties.
Wood ants will use pine needles for making their nest mounds, and decayed tree stumps will be frequented by weevils.
Your problems are our opportunities we always find a solution Communication within a colony of ants is always incredibly precise and focussed.
These larvae mature then pupate to form the first cohort of worker ants.
The ants go up the inside of the hollow stem of the flower stalks and literally eat the flower to pieces.
This is no joke when the ants are fierce when provoked and have some of the most potent toxins around, wear your shoes.
Some birds use stones to crush animal shells, chimpanzees use twigs to extract ants.
Suddenly a colony of extremely voracious ants were crawling across my legs.
I), and in many ants the third abdominal segment is similarly " nodular " in form (fig.
Into these underground chambers the ants carry seeds of grasses and other plants of which they accumulate large stores.
The number of species of beetles that inhabit ants' nests is almost incredibly large, and most of these are never found elsewhere, being blind, helpless and dependent on the ants' care for protection and food; these beetles belong for the most part to the families Pselaphidae, Paussidae and Staphylinidae.