''Strumigenys emmae'' is a species of

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 ...

in the genus ''

Strumigenys ''Strumigenys'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Biology ''Strumigenys'' form small nests in soil, under or between rocks, or in and under logs or under cattle dung. Some species nest in association with other ants such as '' Both ...

''. It is 1.5 millimeters long and is yellowish brown, has a 4 segmented antennae, small

eyes An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the ey ...

, and has hairs on the head,

mesosoma The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings. Wasps, bees and a ...

, and

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

that are mostly scale-like or orbicular. They are difficult to find other than when encountered in leaf litter samples or

pitfall trap A pitfall trap is a trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles. Pitfall traps are a sampling technique, mainly used for ecology studies and ecologic pest control. Animals that enter a pitfall trap are unable to es ...

s. They are normally slow moving, but they can move fast when disturbed. The species first strike usually kills its

prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...

. The species

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

is small. It is most often found in beach margins and agricultural areas.

References

External links

*
Landcare Research
Myrmicinae Insects described in 1890 {{myrmicinae-stub