24 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

1. Army ants "kill and eat cows" (no they don't)
2. Putting a skull on an ant hill under a bucket is a good way to clean it.
3. The queen ant is "the leader" (nope)
4. Carpenter ants will eat your wood house.(they may eat termites.)
5. All red ants are fire ants

6. ALL ants are unable to see red light. (so red film works for ALL ants)

7. There is a species of ant called a "flying ant"

8. Ants have a mouth between their mandibles.

9. 

 

 

What are your pet peeve "ant myths" ?

 

I just saw the "army ants sometimes kill and eat cows" one on tictok with like 4 million views... So I thought I'd work up a "myths" list.

 

(if I'm wrong about any of these myths let me know, but I will be sourcing everything independently before making the the list. )

[strawnkayden1]

Haven’t thought about the bucket a lot but what’s wrong with the skull one?

[SYUTEO]

Here's one I heard a lot of times (though it is a joke) :

 

To see an ant's gender, drop it in water. If it sinks, girl ant. If it floats, boy ant (buoyant).

[futurebird]

Haven’t thought about the bucket a lot but what’s wrong with the skull one?

 

Ants just take way too long to do this task. It would be better to use beetles. 

[strawnkayden1]

Haven’t thought about the bucket a lot but what’s wrong with the skull one?

Ants just take way too long to do this task. It would be better to use beetles.

I see.

[smares]

1) Ants have a mouth between their mandibles- sooo is the mouth underneath the mandibles?
Also what ants can see red light. Seems like a useful list to have.

One myth I'm tired of seeing is: that workers can be male and that the soldier/major workers are boys.

[Chickalo]

1) Ants have a mouth between their mandibles- sooo is the mouth underneath the mandibles?
Also what ants can see red light. Seems like a useful list to have.

One myth I'm tired of seeing is: that workers can be male and that the soldier/major workers are boys.

Stereotypical male dominance thing humans have

 

Here's a couple that people haven't said yet:

 

"Kings" stay with the Queens after mating, another stereotype with humans (especially young children with both parents) have (as I quote E. O. Wilson here, males are just S###m missiles).

 

Ants enjoy "Human Food" (not saying they don't, just depends on the colony)

 

Ants are solitary, as most insects are.

 

Minors are "baby ants".  ANOTHER another stereotype that smaller version of animals are babies.  Usually because mammals are small then larger versions of themselves.

[DDD101DDD]

Every ant in a colony works hard all the time to achieve their goal.

[ANTdrew]

There's some story floating around online that if you put "red ants" and "black ants" in a jar, they won't fight until you shake the jar. They spin some dumb political metaphor out of that.

[KadinB]

Every ant is a carpenter ant. Except when it's red. It's a fire ant if it's red. 

Edited by KadinB, September 9 2021 - 5:11 PM.

[eea]

Here's one I heard a lot of times (though it is a joke) :

 

To see an ant's gender, drop it in water. If it sinks, girl ant. If it floats, boy ant (buoyant).

guess all fire ants are boys 

[Chickalo]

Tetramorium immigrans are red ants

If you've never seen T. immigrans, they're brown

Edited by Chickalo, September 10 2021 - 4:04 AM.

[SYUTEO]

Almost everyone I talk to about ants always say this: There is NO such thing as winged ants!

[DaAnt]

People always call harvester ants fire ants and it bothers me so much.

Edited by DaAnt, September 10 2021 - 6:48 AM.

[CheetoLord02]

Here's some for the antkeepers in the crowd:

Myrmecocystus have a 95% failure rate in founding

Dinomyrmex gigas are the biggest ants in the world

Pheidole antipodum have supermajors/are the world's largest Pheidole

Solenopsis invicta are the fastest growing species

Solenopsis geminata colonies get into the millions of workers (thanks, antscanada)

[KadinB]

People always call harvester ants fire ants and it bothers me so much.

SOOOOOO TRUE LMAO.

[futurebird]

This photos is captioned "ant family with the baby ant hiding between mama and papa"

oh no no no no no

that is not what is going on this this photo.

"small ant attacks two weaver ant sisters by trying to sever her antene. The sister on the right will probably decapitate the small ant"

[futurebird]

What's "cute" about that photo is how the one sister is helping another to remove a painful little pest.

[CheetoLord02]

This one's really funny. Video of clearly not ants, I comment saying it's not ants, and then some guy in the comments replies "you don't know anything about ants do you?".  If only he knew who he was talking to....

[TestSubjectOne]

The guy posted 5 Empires of the Undergrowth videos, so he's clearly an expert . . .

 

At least someone else stepped in and gave an ID of Micropezidae. Interestingly enough, some flies in this family take ant mimicry further like Badisis ambulans from Australia who have lost their wings and spend their larval form in a pitcher plant.