Army ant is a name that people use for ants that move in a line killing every insect and small animal in their path. People use other names for these ants, including Driver Ants, Legionary Ants, and even Visiting Ants.

Scientists describe army ants as ants that have two characteristics: migration or nomadic lifestyle and group predation. There are actually several different species of ants that behave this way. Some live in Africa and some live in South and Central America.

Army ants live in temporary nests. They seldom make underground burrows like other ants. The temporary nests, or bivouacs, are places where the ants rest between their hunting raids. The bivouac might be inside a hollow log, or it might be out in the open.

The ants often make the bivouac hanging from a tree limb. Thousands of workers will link their legs and their mandibles (jaws) and make an enclosed hammock for the queen. Sometimes the workers enclose the immature ants inside the hammock as well.

The army ants stay in the bivouac for a few weeks. Once queen comes out of the resting place and the colony starts to migrate.

Some species of army ants migrate in line. Other species migrate in a fan-shaped wave of ants. Many thousand ants move at once. The soldier ants march at the side of the column to defend the queen.

During the march, some of the workers carry the immature ants. Other workers gather all the food that they can find. As they go, the workers kill every insect, spider, snake, and lizard in their path. Birds and animals hear the ants marching and try to get out of the way.

As they march, the ants can climb trees or shrubs. They have been known to go through houses during the march. The residents of the houses scramble to safety when the column of ants comes in. The people remove their poultry and livestock to a place of safety.

If there is a benefit for the people, it is that when they return home, there are no roaches or other insect pests in their houses! The ants eat everything that does not run or fly away.

Scientists are studying these ants to find out what causes them to migrate as they do. Scientists once thought that the army ants migrated when there was no food left in the area. Now some scientists think that the timing of the migration might be linked with the development of the eggs and the immature ants in the colony. They suspect that there is a connection between the queen’s egg production and the colony’s movements.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

This image illustrates how important it is to have the right chemical scent. Members of an individual colony possess the same “nest odor.” Even members of the same species found stumbling into a neighboring colony will not possess the correct genetic and environmentally determined odor and will generally be attacked as an intruder. These Weaver Ants exhibit refined societal coordination and create advanced camouflaged structure. They build nests by pulling together leaves and gluing them together with silk excreted from accommodating larval ants.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Wild bee honeycombs are constructed from hanging galleries of hexagonal wax cells. The outer drapes are most often used for honey storage whereas the internal hangings are more often used to rear the young bees. This beautiful natural wax comb was hand-harvested in Indonesia at the price of a few defensive stings. Honey is formulated from worker bee saliva and plant nectar which used as food storage for the hive. Humans have an exceptionally long history of harvesting honey and later in developing hive systems to ease in the cultivation of this highly treasured substance.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Taking a drink from the moisture that gathered on the surface of this tropical plant, this paper wasp builds clusters of hexagonal paper cells. Mixing masticated wood pulp with adhesive saliva, these paper nest cells act as larval nesting chambers for the young wasps. The Chinese inventor of paper was legend to have been inspired by observing these wasps chewing bark. Other members of the Vespid family, are potters, building their nests from mud and saliva.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These paper wasps from Indonesia are capable of delivering a painful sting in defense of their paper-chewed nests. Unlike some bees which generally lose their life after delivering their sting, wasps have a barbless stinger they can use on multiple occasion. A stinger is a retractable, modified egg-laying devise known as an ovipositor. Wasp larvae are fed prechewed caterpillars by adult wasps who receive a drop of saliva in return. Their wings are folded lengthwise over body at rest as they assume a threatening alertness to all nearby activities including insect photography. These wasps exhibit presocial cooperation between groups of fertile females. Their nests are open nest with clearly exposed larval chambers.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Thread-waisted wasps are prolific caterpillar hunters. Paralyzed caterpillars are used as food for their young while they develop in sand burrows. This mating pair are solitary wasps who have a liking for flower pollen. They were found in the Mojave Desert in California. Wasp females sting with their modified egg laying apparatus and the junction between the thorax and abdomen exhibits considerable constriction.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These giant hunting ants are a formidable sight with an even more formidable sting. This one is carrying a twig in its massive jaws. Various Amazonian tribes use these hunting ants in puberty ceremonies. Numerous ants are weaved into a wicker framework and their stinging abdomens are pressed into the chests of those participating. The smaller of two similar hunting ant species named Panaponera clavata indeed produces a horrific sting.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Ants have adapted to take advantage of many different food types. These ants, from Brazil, are carefully harvesting the bounty of seeds that have fallen to the forest floor from the tree canopy far above. The ant has long been viewed as an industrious worker, busily building food reserves for leaner times.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

These Ecuadorian ants are harvesting the sweet honeydew secretions of larval treehoppers in return for protection against other insect predators. In this arrangement, ant, larva and adult treehoppers all existed in harmony. Some ants actually corral and rear aphids for the purpose of cultivating their honeydew supplies. The biblical food known as mana that fed the Israelites as they trekked through the Sinai Desert was probably a honeydew secretion.

This Order of insects include sawflies, horntails, wood wasps, ensign wasps, Ichneumonids, fairyflies, fig wasps, chalcids, gall wasps, cuckoo wasps, yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, leafcutter bees, carpenter bees, honey bees, bumble bees, orchid bees, velvet ants, spider wasps, paper wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, mud-dauber wasps and ants.

Ants are important scavengers. They are responsible for recycling huge amounts of organic material from fallen fruit to this unfortunate butterfly. Ants help to keep the enviroments free of rotting material. These ants, from Brazil, keep the forest floor clean and were able to handle this fallen butterfly in a matter of a few hours.