Aenictus ceylonicus
Encyclopedia
Aenictus ceylonicus is a species of reddish brown army ant
found in Southern India
, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Australia. They are completely blind and around 3 mm in length. These ants are seen foraging underneath leaf litter
in forests and well-vegetated areas, travelling in a trail of in three or more columns alongside each other, in parts of India. Their antenna
e, as in most species of Aenictus
, have 10 segments. The scape
is long and extends above the head. The head is smooth and shiny. The mesosoma
and the head region are dark brown, while the gaster
is oval and lighter in colour, nearly transluscent. The mesosoma is broad anteriorly and strongly compressed posteriorly. The petiole and the post petiole are large, conical and shining. They occur in rainforest
s and moist deciduous forests building temporary nests on the ground and in rotting logs.
Like others in the genus they prey on ants, social wasps and other arthropods. Some forms of the species such as formosensis of Taiwan were earlier considered separate species.
Army ant
The name army ant is applied to over 200 ant species, in different lineages, due to their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", in which huge numbers of ants forage simultaneously over a certain area, attacking prey en masse.Another shared feature is that, unlike most ant...
found in Southern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and Australia. They are completely blind and around 3 mm in length. These ants are seen foraging underneath leaf litter
Plant litter
Plant litter, leaf litter or tree litter is dead plant material, such as leaves, bark, needles, and twigs, that has fallen to the ground. Litter provides habitat for small animals, fungi, and plants, and the material may be used to construct nests. As litter decomposes, nutrients are released to...
in forests and well-vegetated areas, travelling in a trail of in three or more columns alongside each other, in parts of India. Their antenna
Antenna (biology)
Antennae in biology have historically been paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods. More recently, the term has also been applied to cilium structures present in most cell types of eukaryotes....
e, as in most species of Aenictus
Aenictus
The army ant genus Aenictus is an enigmatic group known from Africa, tropical Asia, and Queensland. There are some 100 species presently recognized, though many other names are applied at the rank of subspecies...
, have 10 segments. The scape
Scape
In biology, the term scape may refer to:* The first segment of an insect antenna* A finger-like appendage of the epigyne of a female spider* Scape , a flowering stemScape may also refer to:...
is long and extends above the head. The head is smooth and shiny. The mesosoma
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....
and the head region are dark brown, while the gaster
Gaster
The gaster is the bulbous posterior portion of the metasoma found in Apocrita Hymenoptera . This begins with abdominal segment III on most ants, but some make a postpetiole out of segment III, in which case the gaster begins with abdominal segment IV....
is oval and lighter in colour, nearly transluscent. The mesosoma is broad anteriorly and strongly compressed posteriorly. The petiole and the post petiole are large, conical and shining. They occur in rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
s and moist deciduous forests building temporary nests on the ground and in rotting logs.
Like others in the genus they prey on ants, social wasps and other arthropods. Some forms of the species such as formosensis of Taiwan were earlier considered separate species.