Myrmecophagy
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Myrmecophagy is a feeding behavior in animals, defined by the consumption of
termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s or
ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
s—particularly as pertaining to those animal
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
whose diets are largely, or completely, composed of these
insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...
types. Notable myrmecophages include the
giant anteater The giant anteater (''Myrmecophaga tridactyla'') is an Insectivore, insectivorous mammal native to Central America, Central and South America. It is the largest of the four living species of anteaters, which are classified with sloths in the or ...
s and
tamandua ''Tamandua'' is a genus of anteaters in the Myrmecophagidae family with two species: the southern tamandua (''T. tetradactyla'') and the northern tamandua (''T. mexicana''). They live in forests and grasslands, are semiarboreal, and possess part ...
s, aardvarks, some
armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...
s, and
pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smutsia''. ''Manis'' comprises four species found in Asia, while ' ...
s, as well as some members of the order
Carnivora Carnivora ( ) is an order of placental mammals specialized primarily in eating flesh, whose members are formally referred to as carnivorans. The order Carnivora is the sixth largest order of mammals, comprising at least 279 species. Carnivor ...
such as the
sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus''), also known as the Indian bear, is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of ...
of the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
and the aardwolf of
Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme for Africa, United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and ...
. Myrmecophagy comes from the
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
words μύρμηξ (''múrmēx''), "ant", and φαγεῖν (''phageîn''), "to eat". the related habit of termite-eating is termitophagy. The two dietary habits often overlap, as these
eusocial Eusociality ( Greek 'good' and social) is the highest level of organization of sociality. It is defined by the following characteristics: cooperative brood care (including care of offspring from other individuals), overlapping generations wit ...
insects live in large, densely-populated, terrestrial ant colonies or termite mounds, requiring specialised adaptations from any species that wishes to access them. Physical traits of myrmecophagous animals include long, sharp, often curved frontal
claw A claw is a curved, pointed appendage found at the end of a toe or finger in most amniotes (mammals, reptiles, birds). Some invertebrates such as beetles and spiders have somewhat similar fine, hooked structures at the end of the leg or Arthro ...
s for digging into nests or mounds.


Vertebrates

Myrmecophagy is found in several land-dwelling vertebrate taxa. Ant-eating
reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...
s include
horned lizard ''Phrynosoma'', whose members are known as the horned lizards, horny toads, or horntoads, is a genus of North American lizards and the type genus of the Family (biology), family Phrynosomatidae. Their common names refer directly to their horns or ...
s. Amphibians include frogs such as
Dendrobatidae Poison dart frog (also known as dart-poison frog, poison frog or formerly known as poison arrow frog) is the common name of a group of frogs in the Family (biology), family Dendrobatidae which are native to tropical Central America, Central an ...
and
Hylidae Hylidae is a wide-ranging family of frogs commonly referred to as " tree frogs and their allies". However, the hylids include a diversity of frog species, many of which do not live in trees, but are terrestrial or semiaquatic. Taxonomy and ...
, while toads such as ''
Bufo ''Bufo'' is a genus of true toads in the amphibian family Bufonidae. As traditionally defined, it was a wastebasket genus containing a large number of toads from much of the world but following taxonomic reviews most of these have been moved to ...
'' frequently eat ants; many other amphibians take variable quantities of ants in their diet. Ant-eating birds include several species of
woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family (biology), family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar and the extreme ...
s and the New World flickers and the Neotropical antthrushes which prey on columns of foraging
Dorylinae Dorylinae is an ant subfamily, with distributions in both the Old World and New World. Brady ''et al.'' (2014) Synonym (taxonomy), synonymized the previous dorylomorph subfamilies (Aenictinae, Aenictogitoninae, Cerapachyinae, Ecitoninae, and Lep ...
ants, while many other insectivorous birds occasionally eat ants.
Mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s whose diets consist largely of ants and termites include
monotreme Monotremes () are mammals of the order Monotremata. They are the only group of living mammals that lay eggs, rather than bearing live young. The extant monotreme species are the platypus and the four species of echidnas. Monotremes are typified ...
s such as
echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...
s,
marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...
s such as
numbat The numbat (''Myrmecobius fasciatus''), also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. The species was once widespread across southern Australia, but i ...
s, and
placental mammal Placental mammals ( infraclass Placentalia ) are one of the three extant subdivisions of the class Mammalia, the other two being Monotremata and Marsupialia. Placentalia contains the vast majority of extant mammals, which are partly distinguish ...
s –
anteater Anteaters are the four extant mammal species in the suborder Vermilingua (meaning "worm tongue"), commonly known for eating ants and termites. The individual species have other names in English and other languages. Together with sloths, they ar ...
s,
aardvark Aardvarks ( ; ''Orycteropus afer'') are medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammals native to Africa. Aardvarks are the only living species of the family Orycteropodidae and the order Tubulidentata. They have a long proboscis, similar to a pi ...
s,
armadillo Armadillos () are New World placental mammals in the order (biology), order Cingulata. They form part of the superorder Xenarthra, along with the anteaters and sloths. 21 extant species of armadillo have been described, some of which are dis ...
s, and
pangolin Pangolins, sometimes known as scaly anteaters, are mammals of the order Pholidota (). The one extant family, the Manidae, has three genera: '' Manis'', '' Phataginus'', and '' Smutsia''. ''Manis'' comprises four species found in Asia, while ' ...
s. The extinct
alvarezsaurids Alvarezsauridae is a family of small, long-legged dinosaurs. Although originally thought to represent the earliest known flightless birds, they are now thought to be an early diverging branch of maniraptoran theropods. Alvarezsaurids were highly ...
, a group of theropod dinosaurs from the Cretaceous period, have been interpreted as myrmecophagous, with their short, robustly built arms with a single claw being interpreted as being used to break into colonial insect nests. Mammals that specialize in myrmecophagy often display similar adaptations for this niche. Many have powerful forelimbs and claws adapted to excavating the nests of ant or termite colonies from the earth or from wood or under bark. Most have reduced teeth and some have reduced jaws as well. Many have low basal body temperatures, an adaptation to the low energy content of ants and termites, and most have advanced olfaction to help them find prey. Practically all have long, sticky tongues. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century many zoologists saw these shared features as evidence of relatedness, and accordingly they classified the various species as a single order of
Mammalia A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle ear bon ...
, the Edentata. It quite early became clear that such a classification was mistaken, and the features came to be seen as examples of
convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...
, for example, by
Frank Evers Beddard Frank Evers Beddard FRS FRSE (19 June 1858 – 14 July 1925) was an English zoologist. He became a leading authority on annelids, including earthworms. He won the Linnean Medal in 1916 for his book on oligochaetes. Life Beddard was born in ...
in 1902. As genome sequences for various former members of Edentata have been published, genetic evidence has confirmed that its members are taxonomically distant.


Invertebrates

Ants are dangerous, small, and rich in distasteful and harmful compounds, making them difficult prey and favouring ant mimicry for defence among invertebrates. Ants are plentiful, so members of several invertebrate taxa do feed on ants. Such ant predators include some spiders, such as species in the family
Salticidae Jumping spiders are a group of spiders that constitute the family (biology), family Salticidae. , this family contained over 600 species description, described genus, genera and over 6,000 described species, making it the largest family of spide ...
(jumping spiders), spiders in the family
Oecobiidae Oecobiidae, also called disc web spiders, is a family of Araneomorphae, araneomorph spiders, including about 100 described species. They are small to moderate sized spiders, about long combined head and body length, depending on the species. Lar ...
and the family Theridiidae. While exclusive myrmecophagy is not very common, there are some striking examples, such as the Australian ant-slayer spider ''Euryopis umbilicata'' that feeds almost exclusively on one species of ant. Other examples include some myrmecomorphs ( ant mimics) and
myrmecophile file:Panaphis juglandis.jpg , thumb , Myrmecophilous aphids being tended by ants Myrmecophily ( , ) consists of positive, Mutualism (biology), mutualistic, interspecies Association (ecology), associations between ants and a variety of other or ...
s. Myrmecomorphs are Batesian mimics, giving them protection against predators which avoid ants, and access to abundant food. Various
Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from ...
n bugs, in the family
Reduviidae The Reduviidae is a large Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan family of the suborder Heteroptera of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera (true bugs). Among the Hemiptera and together with the Nabidae almost all species are terrestrial ambush ...
feed largely or exclusively on ants. Examples include the genera ''Paredocla'' and '' Acanthaspis''. Some insects that feed on ants do so because they are opportunistic predators of small insects that run on the ground surface, of which ants are a large proportion. Remarkable examples of convergent evolution are certain species of the
Neuroptera The insect order (biology), order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order consists of some 6,000 species. Neuroptera is grouped together with the Megaloptera (alderflies, f ...
n family
Myrmeleontidae The antlions are a group of about 2,000 species of insect in the neuropteran family (biology), family Myrmeleontidae. They are known for the predation, predatory habits of their larvae, which mostly dig pits to trap passing ants or other prey. ...
, largely '' Myrmeleon'', the so-called ant lions, and the
Dipteran Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
family Vermileonidae, in particular the genera ''Lampromyia'' and ''Vermileo'', the so-called worm lions. Both of them are regarded with interest for their habit of constructing conical pit traps in fine sand or dust, at the bottom of which they await prey that has fallen in. Both throw sand to interfere with any attempts on the part of the prey to escape. Myrmecophagy takes more forms than just eating adult ants; the later
instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...
s of caterpillars of many butterflies in the family
Lycaenidae Lycaenidae is the second-largest family (biology), family of butterflies (behind Nymphalidae, brush-footed butterflies), with over 6,000 species worldwide, whose members are also called gossamer-winged butterflies. They constitute about 30% of ...
enter the nests of particular species of ants and eat the ants' eggs and larvae. Larvae of some species of flies, such as the genus ''
Microdon Hover flies (family Syrphidae) of the genus ''Microdon'' are unusual among the Fly, Diptera. Like other members of the subfamily, they are myrmecophiles, meaning they inhabit the nests of ants. There are 249 species known worldwide, with the gr ...
'' in the family Syrphidae spend their entire immature lives in the nests of ants, feeding largely or entirely on the ant brood. Some beetles specialise in feeding on the brood of particular species of ants. An example is the coccinellid '' Diomus''; larvae of ''Diomus thoracicus'' in French Guiana specialise in the nests of the invasive ant species ''
Wasmannia auropunctata The little fire ant (''Wasmannia auropunctata''), also known as the electric ant, is a small (approx long), light to golden brown (ginger) social ant native to Central and South America, now spread to parts of Africa (including Gabon and Camero ...
''. Major predators of ants include other ants, especially the
army ants 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 ...
and their close relatives. Some ants such as the raider ant ''Oocerea biroi'' and the new world
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 ...
''Nomamyrmex esenbecki'' are obligate myrmecophages, that is they eat exclusively other ants, while the swarm-raiding ''
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 polymor ...
'' eat more or less all arthropods in their paths, including other ants. Primarily it is the pupae and larvae, rather than adult ants, that are eaten. The ant species '' Megaponera analis'' is monophagous and feeds exclusively on termites.


References


Sources

* {{Feeding Carnivory Ants Termites