How many legs do ants have, depending on the species? What speed can their legs develop on smooth surfaces? Can ants move in water? Description of the body structure of an arthropod.
The ant is one of the most common types of insects on our Earth. In total, researchers discovered more than 12,000 species of represented arthropods. They are characterized by a high level of hard work, organization, and intelligence. Each species has special features, appearance, body structure, and vital functions.
It is worth noting that the ant is a very strong insect, capable of covering a fairly large distance with a large load for it. Let's figure out how many legs an ant has, as well as what their purpose is.
The answer to the question from the scientific side
Scientific facts will help you accurately answer the question of how many legs an ant has. The represented species of individuals is a large class, the name of which is insects. Their main exclusive feature is the presence of 6 legs, the same applies to ants - they also have 3 standard pairs of legs.
It is worth taking into account that it is the number of limbs of fauna representatives that distinguishes arthropods from ticks and spiders. A tick has 8 legs, and a spider has 16.
Let's look at another question - is it possible that an ant will have fewer legs? According to scientists, they cannot give a negative answer, since in fact this option is quite real.
This can be explained by the fact that such pests have a predatory lifestyle and often enter into a fight with other types of insects, in which there is a risk of losing their running legs. Only such cases can cause the absence of pairs of paws in an arthropod.
The structure and appearance of an ant
Ants have a long history of development. The first insects whose fossilized skeletons were found by scientists are 80 million years old. Their relatives are considered:
- termites;
- wasps;
- bees.
It is difficult to classify ants; there are many species that are duplicates and similar only in appearance. In total, according to various sources, there are 8–12 thousand varieties. Some of the insect families are predators, others feed only on nectar or wood. Insects have colors:
- yellow;
- brown;
- red;
- black.
There are mixed ones. Certain types of insects are eaten. But they don’t have meat as such.
black ant
The smallest ants grow 1–2 mm and can be difficult to see. But in the warm, damp forests of the tropics you can find a fairly large insect, 50 mm. Ants differ among themselves in color, head size, waist, and the presence of wings. Otherwise, their structure is the same:
- head;
- breast;
- abdomen;
- paws.
An ant begins with complex polynomial antennae. They serve him to identify friends and foes and to feel food. And the insect carries hard pieces and crushes food with strong mandules. These are peculiar pincers on his head on the sides of his proboscis.
Between the chest and abdomen there is a petiole in the shape of a narrow waist. The worker ant ends with a sting into which its genitals have mutated. On top of the insect is a chitinous cover, which is also an exoskeleton. The tarsus are thin, multi-segmented, ending in claws. Thanks to the peculiar hooks, the insect is freely held on vertical rough surfaces. On the ant's head there are several types of glands that secrete various enzymes. Some serve as an identifying smell for their own, others serve as poison that can kill small insects and larvae. For humans, ant bites only in large quantities can cause allergies.
The ant has glands that secrete various enzymes, for example when there is danger
In case of danger, ants signal by releasing enzymes consisting mainly of oxalic acid. The sting of warrior ants is also lubricated with it. Therefore, if you wipe the baseboards with a swab containing oxalic acid, then the pharaoh ants will not visit the kitchen for a long time.
What are the distinctive features of the structure of an ant's legs?
For a more detailed look at the body structure of small hardworking strongmen, you can look at the photos and diagrams below; if you wish, this can be done in reality by anyone.
If we talk about the most common forest and garden species of ants in our country, they are of sufficient size so that the structure of the legs can be examined without the use of special magnifying devices.
An interesting fact is that the legs of this pest are very strong, so much so that they are capable of carrying a load that will exceed the weight of their own body by 2 dozen times.
Each of the three pairs of ant legs is attached to the middle part of the body - the presented segment is scientifically called a mesosome. The first pair of legs (the legs are distinguished by the presence of very small and thin outgrowths) of the arthropod are located near the front of the chest, they are directed forward, thanks to them the insect takes care of itself - it puts itself in order, cleans the antennae (they, by the way, are part of the body , which helps them catch the smell of food and enemies).
The remaining pairs of legs are attached to the lower part of the chest, but their direction is already backward, downward. The main purpose of these legs is accelerated movement, support, in addition, they act as a means used in the fight against enemies.
Some types of ants differ in the structure of their paws, allowing them to jump to fairly high heights and swim.
Arthropods achieve maximum crawling speed on various surfaces due to the presence of serrations on each of the legs. With their help, pests can quickly and easily overcome almost any material that has at least minimal roughness on the surface.
The only exceptions for small workers are vertical smooth surfaces, for example, glass. By the way, many owners of apartments, summer cottages and country houses use this feature as an effective technique to combat these arthropods.
Features
People who have little understanding of biology confuse ants with spiders or mites. Insects can be distinguished by the number of legs: ticks have eight. The only arthropods in our fauna are ants, spiders and mites. However, some beetles are able to imitate the shape of an ant's body in order to penetrate the anthill. They are difficult to distinguish.
Ants use their legs for more than just locomotion. Since they are able to place them wider than their body, and also due to the strength of their legs, the insect lifts and carries enormous weight. The mass of such a load can be 50 times greater than the mass of the insect itself.
The ant also uses its legs to measure distances. This is done by insects that live in deserts. That is, legs are also a navigation tool. That's how many functions there are. The insect remembers how many steps there are before the turn and, focusing on the angle, makes an amendment.
The legs secrete strong pheromones - substances that produce marks when moving . This is how the insect shows its brothers the way. More marks attract more other ants. Sometimes mistakes occur when applying marks, which causes the insects following to lose their way and begin to run in circles. They close the trail with a fresher trail, and this can be a disaster for the whole family.
Thin, mobile and strong legs will allow the ant to work miracles and perform very difficult work every day.
Functions of insect limbs
Each pair of legs in an ant performs specific tasks. With its front legs with a brush, it cleans its antennae and other legs, and with its hind legs it fights with strangers. Using the claws of its legs, clinging to the minimal unevenness of the surface, the insect can crawl up and down on any material, including glass, which is inaccessible to cockroaches.
All 6 legs of an ant are used to transmit signals by smell, which appears as a result of the production of strong-smelling pheromones by special glands located on the legs of the insect. This smell serves as a direction for movement of other family members. The more ant legs that run this way, the more noticeable the direction becomes for the entire community.
Interesting!
An interesting fact was recorded as a result of research. If an ant accidentally closes its path with a fresher trail, it will begin to run in a circle. His brothers, following the smell, will also run in a circle and so on until they are completely exhausted. This can lead to the death of the family if there are no other more noticeable landmarks along which the ants will change the direction of movement.
Ants have very strong legs. They place them wider than the plane of the body, so they can withstand and carry a load 20-50 times greater than their own weight. This phenomenon is easily explained from a physiological point of view. The cross-section of muscles changes disproportionately with decreasing body size, hence the ratio of muscle mass to body mass in an ant is much higher than in humans.
Functions of insect limbs
Desert insects use their feet to measure distances. They remember the number of steps after each change in the angle of movement. The return journey is made, taking into account the correction in direction, leaving the number of steps unchanged.
Weaver ants use their legs and chewing apparatus to build nests from leaves. Some press the edges of the leaves against each other with their paws, while other insects hold them together with a special substance secreted by the larvae. Such an anthill, located in a suspended state, is very convenient for an entire colony to live in.
Interesting!
The speed of movement on their legs of ants from the family of phaetons can reach 4 km/h. They live in the extreme desert conditions of Asia, Africa and America, can withstand temperatures up to +50° C and are considered the fastest running insects in the world, because if they stay in the sun for more than the required time, they burn their paws and simply die.
Australian bulldog ants easily swim over a distance of 15 cm using their legs, and also jump up to 50 cm in length using their jaws, rather than their paws, to push off the ground.
The answer to the question of how many legs an ant has is very simple: any ant has 6 legs. Moreover, regardless of the type, size, color and habitat, this is the main difference between any ant and its distant relatives - mites, spiders and crustaceans. In general, in all ants in the adult stage, all six legs are clearly visible and distinguishable, and therefore counting them is relatively easy.
Each pair of ant legs is located on a separate part of the chest. These segments have different sizes and proportions in different species of ants and even in individual castes of the same species, but in general the arrangement of the legs is common to all ants.
The front legs of ants are located on the prothorax. On these legs, ants have a special device, similar to a small brush, with which the insect can clean the antennae and other legs.
The ant's hind legs have spurs that perform different functions. They are most often used by soldier ants to participate in battles with other ants.
Due to the special structure of their legs, ants gain many useful abilities from them.
Glands on the legs as a tool for orientation
Ants also use their legs to transmit scent signals. Scientists have discovered glands on the legs of ants that secrete strong-smelling pheromones. Ants leave these substances as marks on various objects as they move, making the path more visible to other individuals.
The more ants run along such a path, the more marks remain on it, the more attractive it is to other individuals. Accordingly, the most visited paths look like comfortable highways to ants, while the newly marked routes are comparable to a barely traveled path in the forest.
It is because of errors in the placement of such marks that the famous ant circles occur: if an ant accidentally runs in a circle and closes its own path with a more recent trail, obeying instinct, it then continues to run in a circle. Several of his brothers can connect to it, and when the number of ants exceeds several hundred, such a circle can become a real disaster for the family - the ants can run around in it until they are completely exhausted. However, such a circle can only arise in the absence of noticeable external landmarks, when the ants are forced to use only their scent trails for navigation.
Therefore, the next time you see an ant, take a closer look at its legs. These thin and inconspicuous organs at first glance help little hard workers work real miracles!
Industrious ants are found everywhere and often live in our homes. When they move into a residential area, this becomes a real problem. Their appearance in the apartment is a mystery to most of us. They always move quickly, being constantly busy and busy. What is the structure of an insect, how many legs do ants have, and what role do they perform?
Ants belong to the family of insects, the order Hymenoptera, subfamily Antidae. This order includes their close relatives - bees and wasps
. In their structure they are all very similar, including the presence of wings. The only exceptions are certain ones. In total, there are 12,000 species of these insects on our planet.
The body of an adult is divided into three main sections:
- voluminous abdomen;
- large head;
- small breasts.
Insects are divided into 3 castes - females, males and workers.
. Females and males have differences in structure and they have wings. Working individuals do not have wings. The first ants, which still existed during the era of dinosaurs, had a primitive structure. Very often you hear the question, how many legs does an ant have and what is their speed? The answer is very simple - only 6 legs or three pairs of legs. They can be easily counted in adults; in adulthood, the limbs are clearly visible and distinguishable.
Reasons for the appearance of ants in the apartment
Differences in appearance differ depending on the species as there are differences in the size and weight of the insect's body. For example, representatives of the tropics reach only 2 mm in length and weigh no more than 2 mg. There are also large species, the weight of which can reach 90 grams, and their body length reaches 3 cm. Despite the difference in weight and size, their structure is very similar.
