''Tetramorium bicarinatum'', is a species of ant of the family
Formicidae in the order
Hymenoptera
Hymenoptera is a large order of insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are parasitic.
Females typi ...
that originated in South East Asia.
Morphology
It is a reddish headed medium-sized ant, with
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 waist contrasting with a dark
gaster.
Habitat
The species can adversely affect native
biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
.
[ It is also said to be a common ]tramp species In ecology, a tramp species is an organism that has been spread globally by human activities. The term was coined by William Morton Wheeler in the bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History in 1906, used to describe ants that “have made th ...
which is usually found inside of houses, in greenhouses
A greenhouse is a structure that is designed to regulate the temperature and humidity of the environment inside. There are different types of greenhouses, but they all have large areas covered with transparent materials that let sunlight pass an ...
and shade houses, or in landscaped areas near houses.
Venom
The ''Tetramorium bicarinatums venom arrangement shows potential for a new pharmacologically
Pharmacology is the science of drugs and medications, including a substance's origin, composition, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic use, and toxicology. More specifically, it is the study of the interactions that occur between ...
active substance, bicarinalin. This antibacterial
An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention ...
, antimicrobial
An antimicrobial is an agent that kills microorganisms (microbicide) or stops their growth (bacteriostatic agent). Antimicrobial medicines can be grouped according to the microorganisms they are used to treat. For example, antibiotics are used aga ...
, and anti-infective compound could potentially be chemically synthesized to combat antibiotic-resistant
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR or AR) occurs when microbes evolve mechanisms that protect them from antimicrobials, which are drugs used to treat infections. This resistance affects all classes of microbes, including bacteria (antibiotic resista ...
pathogen
In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
s by means of drug therapy.
References
Further reading
*Wetterer, James K. "Worldwide spread of the penny ant, Tetramorium bicarinatum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Sociobiology 54.3 (2009): 811–830.
*Astruc, Cyril, Christian Malosse, and Christine Errard. "Lack of intraspecific aggression in the ant Tetramorium bicarinatum: a chemical hypothesis." Journal of Chemical Ecology 27.6 (2001): 1229–1248.
*de Biseau, J. C., et al. "Respective contributions of leader and trail during recruitment to food inTetramorium bicarinatum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Insectes sociaux 41.3 (1994): 241–254.
External links
*
bicarinatum
Insects described in 1846
Taxa named by William Nylander (botanist)
Hymenoptera of New Zealand
Ants of New Zealand
{{myrmicinae-stub