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Bivouac (ants)
A bivouac is an organic structure formed by migratory driver ant and army ant colonies, such as the species ''Eciton burchellii''. A nest is constructed out of the living ant workers' own bodies to protect the queen and larvae, and is later deconstructed as the ants move on. Army ants can forage and feed on insects over large areas of more than 1,800 square yards in a single day, so they must constantly move to new areas. During what is called the migratory phase, the ants set up bivouacs at new sites each night. As many as 150,000 to 700,000 worker bodies cover and protect the queen, linking legs and bodies in a mass that measures a meter across. Thousands of larvae are located near the centre with the queen, and workers are responsible for feeding them. Larger workers also serve as porters, carrying larvae to new bivouacs. In the morning, the bivouac dissolves into raiding columns that form a fan-shaped front. These raiding columns can travel up to 20 metres per hour with lead w ...
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Bivouac Of Army Ants (9372570529)
Bivouac is a type of camp or shelter. The term may refer to: * Bivouac Peak, a mountain in the Teton Range, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, United States * A military camp * Bivouac shelter, an extremely lightweight alternative to traditional tent systems * Bivouac (ants), an ant nest constructed out of the living ant worker's own bodies * Bivouac (horse), an Australian thoroughbred racehorse Music * Bivouac (band), a UK indie rock band of the 1990s * Bivouac (album), ''Bivouac'' (album), a 1992 album by the U.S. band Jawbreaker See also

* {{disambiguation ...
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Driver Ant
''Dorylus'', also known as driver ants, safari ants, or siafu, is a large genus of army ants found primarily in central and east Africa, although the range also extends to southern Africa and tropical Asia. The term siafu is a loanword from Swahili, and is one of numerous similar words from regional Bantu languages used by indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae (now Dorylinae), members of this genus form temporary subterranean bivouacs in underground cavities which they excavate and inhabit - either for a few days or up to three months. Also, unlike some New World army ants, driver ants are not specialized predators of other species of ant, instead being more generalistic with a diet consisting of a diversity of arthropods. Their colonies are enormous compared to other ant species, and can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their American counterparts, workers exhibit caste polymorp ...
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Army Ant
The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited area. Another shared feature is that, unlike most ant species, army ants do not construct permanent nests; an army ant colony moves almost incessantly over the time it exists. All species are members of the true ant family, Formicidae, but several groups have independently evolved the same basic behavioural and ecological syndrome. This syndrome is often referred to as "legionary behaviour", and may be an example of convergent evolution. Most New World army ants belong to the genera ''Cheliomyrmex'', ''Neivamyrmex'', ''Nomamyrmex'', ''Labidus'', and ''Eciton''. The largest genus is ''Neivamyrmex'', which contains more than 120 species; the most predominant species is ''Eciton burchellii''; its common name "army ant" is considered to be t ...
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Eciton Burchellii
''Eciton burchellii'' is a species of New World army ant in the genus '' Eciton''. This species performs expansive, organized swarm raids that give it the informal name, ''Eciton'' army ant. This species displays a high degree of worker polymorphism. Sterile workers are of four discrete size-castes: minors, medias, porters (sub-majors), and soldiers (majors). Soldiers have much larger heads and specialized mandibles for defense. In lieu of underground excavated nests, colonies of ''E. burchellii'' form temporary living nests known as bivouacs, which are composed of hanging live worker bodies and which can be disassembled and relocated during colony emigrations. ''Eciton burchellii'' colonies cycle between stationary phases and nomadic phases when the colony emigrates nightly. These alternating phases of emigration frequency are governed by coinciding brood developmental stages. Group foraging efforts known as "raids" are maintained by the use of pheromones, can be long, and emp ...
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Larva
A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle. A larva's appearance is generally very different from the adult form (''e.g.'' caterpillars and butterflies) including different unique structures and organs that do not occur in the adult form. Their diet may also be considerably different. In the case of smaller primitive arachnids, the larval stage differs by having three instead of four pairs of legs. Larvae are frequently adapted to different environments than adults. For example, some larvae such as tadpoles live almost exclusively in aquatic environments but can live outside water as adult frogs. By living in a distinct environment, larvae may be given shelter from predators and reduce competition for resources with the adult population. Animals in the lar ...
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Myrmecology
Myrmecology (; from Greek: μύρμηξ, ''myrmex'', "ant" and λόγος, ''logos'', "study") is a branch of entomology focusing on the study of ants. Ants continue to be a model of choice for the study of questions on the evolution of social systems because of their complex and varied forms of social organization. Their diversity and prominence in ecosystems also has made them important components in the study of biodiversity and conservation. In the 2000s, ant colonies began to be studied and modeled for their relevance in machine learning, complex interactive networks, stochasticity of encounter and interaction networks, parallel computing, and other computing fields. History The word myrmecology was coined by William Morton Wheeler (1865–1937), although human interest in the life of ants goes back to ancient times. The earliest scientific thinking based on observation of ant life was that of Auguste Forel (1848–1931), a Swiss psychologist who initially was interest ...
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