Driver ants dorylus

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I infer that the workers tear them off durin g the underground forays, while they are dragging the colossal queen by all her legs through the narrow galleries. Dorylus , also known as driver ants , safari ants , or siafu , is a large genus of army ants found primarily in central and east Africa , although the range also extends to southern Africa and tropical Asia.

The term siafu is a loanword from Swahili , [2] and is one of numerous similar words from regional Bantu languages used by indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae now Dorylinae , members of this genus form temporary subterranean bivouacs in underground cavities which they excavate and inhabit - either for a few days or up to three months.

Also unlike some New World army ants, driver ants are not specialized predators of other species of ant, instead being more generalistic with a diet consisting of a diversity of arthropods. Colonies are enormous compared to other army ants and can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their American counterparts, workers exhibit caste polymorphism with the soldiers having particularly large heads that power their scissor-like mandibles. They are capable of stinging , but very rarely do so, relying instead on their powerful shearing jaws.

Seasonally, when food supplies become short, they leave the hill and form marching columns of up to 50,, ants, which are considered a menace to people, though they can be easily avoided; a column can only travel about 20 metres in an hour. It is for those unable to move, or when the columns pass through homes, that there is the greatest risk. The characteristic long columns of ants will fiercely defend themselves against anything that attacks them. These instinctively take up positions as sentries, and set a perimeter corridor through which the smaller ants can run safely.

Their bite is severely painful, each soldier leaving two puncture wounds when removed. Removal is difficult, however, as their jaws are extremely strong, and one can pull a soldier ant in two without it releasing its hold. Large numbers of ants can kill small or immobilized animals and strip them to husks. A large part of their diet is earthworms.

All Dorylus species are blind, and, like most varieties of ants, communicate primarily through pheromones. In the mating season, alates winged drones, queens of driver-ant species do not grow wings are formed. The drones are larger than the soldiers and the queens are even larger.

Driver ants do not perform a nuptial flight, but mate on the ground, and the queens go off to establish new colonies. As with most ants , workers and soldiers are sterile females, and so do not reproduce. Male driver ants, sometimes known as "sausage flies" a term also applied to males of New World dorylines due to their bloated, sausage-like abdomens , are among the largest ant morphs, and were originally believed to be members of a different species.

The term siafu is a loanword from Swahili, and is one of numerous similar words from regional Bantu languages used by indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae now Dorylinae , members of this genus do form temporary anthills lasting from a few days up to three months.

Each colony can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their New World counterparts, there is a soldier class among the workers, which is larger, with a very large head and pincer-like mandibles. They are capable of stinging, but very rarely do so, relying instead on their powerful shearing jaws.

Borowiec — Because some species of this lineage are so conspicuous and are the most important arthropod predators of the Afrotropics, this group has attracted considerable attention.

The best studied species include the Afrotropical species that forage above ground, but one subterranean species, Dorylus laevigatus has been the subject of some work. Although other authors have subsequently applied the term to all species in the subgenus Anomma as currently recognized or even to all species in Skip to main content Skip to table of contents. This service is more advanced with JavaScript available.

Encyclopedia of Entomology Edition.