Myrmecia is a genus of ants first established by Danish zoologist Johan Christian Fabricius in 1804. The genus is a member of the subfamily Myrmeciinae of the family Formicidae. Myrmecia is a large genus of ants, comprising at least 93 species that are found throughout Australia and its coastal islands, while a single species is only known from New Caledonia. One species has been introduced out of its natural distribution and was found in New Zealand in 1940, but the ant was last seen in 1981. These ants are commonly known as bull ants, bulldog ants or jack jumper ants, and are also associated with many other common names. They are characterized by their extreme aggressiveness, ferocity, and painful stings. Some species are known for the jumping behavior they exhibit when agitated.
Species of this genus are also characterized by their elongated mandibles and large compound eyes that provide excellent vision. They vary in colour and size, ranging from . Although workers and queens are hard to distinguish from each other due to their similar appearance, males are identifiable by their perceptibly smaller mandibles. Almost all Myrmecia species are monomorphic, with little variation among workers of a given species. Some queens are ergatoid and have no wings, while others have either stubby or completely developed wings. Nests are mostly found in soil, but they can be found in rotten wood and under rocks. One species does not nest in the ground at all; its colonies can only be found in trees.
A queen will mate with one or more males, and during colony foundation she will hunt for food until the brood have fully developed. The life cycle of the ant from egg to adult takes several months. Myrmecia workers exhibit greater longevity in comparison to other ants, and workers are also able to reproduce with male ants. Myrmecia is one of the most primitive group of ants on earth, exhibiting differentiated behaviors from other ants. Workers are solitary hunters and do not lead other workers to food.
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Le contenu de ce cours correspond à celui du cours d'Analyse I, comme il est enseigné pour les étudiantes et les étudiants de l'EPFL pendant leur premier semestre. Chaque chapitre du cours correspond
The goal of this course is to provide methods and tools for modeling distributed intelligent systems as well as designing and optimizing coordination strategies. The course is a well-balanced mixture
The students gain an in-depth knowledge of several current and emerging areas of theoretical computer science. The course familiarizes them with advanced techniques, and develops an understanding of f
Explores self-organization in natural systems and foraging strategies of ants, including the Traveling Salesman Problem and Ant Colony Optimization algorithms.
Explores Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) for routing and optimization, discussing constructive heuristics, local search, pheromone mechanisms, and real-world applications.
The ecological success of ants relies on their ability to discover and collectively exploit available resources. In this process, the nest entrances are key locations at which foragers transfer food and information about the surrounding environment. We ass ...
Self-organization is the spontaneous formation of ordered patterns and networks from a population of comparatively simple elements or individuals with no prior information on neither the formation process nor the final organization. While the construction ...
Due to growing social and physical transformations, contemporary cities reveal the profound necessity of proper scientific approaches that are adjusted to conditions of global complexity and dynamic patterns of development. Predominance of an overall marke ...