Cephalotes incertus
| Cephalotes incertus | |
|---|---|
| Cephalotes incertus worker | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Genus: | Cephalotes |
| Species: | C. incertus
|
| Binomial name | |
| Cephalotes incertus (Emery, 1906)
| |
Cephalotes incertus is a species of arboreal ant of the genus Cephalotes, characterized by an odd shaped head and the ability to "parachute" by steering their fall if they drop off of the tree they're on. Giving their name also as gliding ants.[1][2]
Like other Cephalotes ants, C. incertus spends most of its life in the forest canopy and seldom descends to the forest floor. Studies of canopy ants show that members of this genus use directed aerial descent to glide back toward trees when they fall from their arboreal habitat.[3]
References
- ^ Latreille, P.A. (1802). Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere des crustaces et des insectes. Vol. 3. F. Dufart, Paris. 467 pp. PDF
- ^ Yanoviak, S. P.; Munk, Y.; Dudley, R. (2011). "Evolution and Ecology of Directed Aerial Descent in Arboreal Ants". Integrative and Comparative Biology. 51 (6): 944–956. doi:10.1093/icb/icr006. PMID 21562023.
- ^ Yanoviak, Stephen P.; Dudley, Robert; Kaspari, Michael (February 2005). "Directed aerial descent in canopy ants". Nature. 433 (7026): 624–626. doi:10.1038/nature03254. ISSN 1476-4687.
External links
- Media related to Cephalotes incertus at Wikimedia Commons