However, in the arid Australian desert, there is a honeypot ant whose abdomen is full of liquid, and the whole abdomen has expanded into a translucent sphere. When the local people catch this kind of ant, the general operation is to unscrew their heads and throw them directly into their mouths, because it is full of honey!
How can honeypot ants hold so much honey that their stomachs won't burst?
After the heavy rain, everything recovered in the Australian desert. Countless grasses and small flowers germinate first, then bloom and bear seeds before the moisture is dry, and then the seeds are scattered in the desert with the wind! In these short weeks, one kind of insect is busier than anyone else. They are endemic species, honeypot ants!
There is a certain proportion of true honeypot ants in this honeypot ant colony. They will suck nectar desperately in this flower season until they can hardly climb, then return to their nests and continue to be fed by other ants until they are close to the size of grapes. At this point, they have been hanging upside down in the ant nest and become the temporary grain depot of the ant colony!
When the dry season comes and food is scarce, worker ants will come to these honeypot ants to ask for honey. At this time, honeypot ants will ruminate honey and feed it to worker ants. Of course, ants are very disciplined and won't make a rare offer when there are enough mistakes. Only in the most difficult times will they use these "strategic reserves".
Honeypot ants are not fixed.
Many friends will think that this is too cruel to honeypot ants? Actually, don't think so. They are part of the division of labor in the ant colony. The social division of labor of ant colony is differentiated from the genetic level, which is divided into three types: queen (female, queen), soldier ant and worker ant. The queen specializes in reproduction, and other individuals provide her with food and have no reproductive rights. Of course, this is the way for ants to survive, and the identity of honeypot ants is not permanent. When the honey of honeypot ants is ruminated, their bellies can return to normal size and become like other worker ants, restoring their ordinary identity!
The proportion of honey ant stored by honeypot ants is about 50%, but it will be adjusted according to the size of the ant colony. For example, in a small ant colony with 1000 ants, the proportion of honey ant stored by honeypot ants is about 49%, and it is about 46% in an ant colony with 4,000 ants. Maximum honey ant stored, length and weight1.5mm. In proportion, digging a nest of ants will make you full!
The ratio of honeypot ants to palms
Honeypot ants have such a big belly, why not break it?
It won't break so big. This is probably the most curious place for everyone. What is this structure? It will explode in half a year, and it will recover after use. This technology is definitely a woman's favorite after childbirth. What is the structure?
The abdomen of the honeypot giant mountain ant consists of a hard diaphragm and a soft articular membrane. When honey is not stored, the articular membrane will shrink and fold, and its body shape is no different from that of ordinary ants. Once honey is needed, the joint membrane will open and remain at its maximum. This ratio is comparable to that of blowing balloons!
Membrane and combined membrane structure of honeypot ants
The dura mater has only four segments, most of which are folded articular membranes. This magical honeypot ant is really an evolutionary miracle. Besides honeypot ants in Huang Cancan, there are also green honeypot ants. The colors are different because the nectar they eat is different from the sweet tree juice, so those green honeypot ants look more like a real grape!
Are there honeypot ants in China?
Honeypot ants are not a unique species, but many ants with honey storage behavior, such as archaea, arrow ants in North Africa and honeypot ants in North America. So do we have honeypot ants in China? It is true that Mongolian protoant is a kind of ant with honey storage behavior, which is distributed in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Mongolia, Central Asia, West Asia, Caucasus and Balkans to Spain and other vast areas!
However, unlike everyone's impression that honeypot ants like grapes, the honeypot of Mongolian primitive ants is relatively small and looks like an ant with a bigger belly, but the honey storage is still true. They usually live under rocks, and each group is small, only a few hundred. At this scale, it is estimated that you have to dig a few more nests of ants to eat!
In addition, some insect lovers keep honeypot ants as pets. A treasure has Mongolian original ants (China honeypot ants) for sale. It is also interesting to buy them to build nests, feed them honey with different pigments, and watch them reproduce and bulge their rainbow-like bellies!