2 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

As an amateur ant enthusiast I struggle with technical descriptions of species. They say things like:
"3 teeth on the masticatory margin and a smooth basal margin."

I knew this was about the mandibles (eg the ant teeth) but until I saw this didn't understand what it meant.

 

 

 I have various labeled diagrams of ant parts, but none really expressed what these regions were clearly.

Also the ant "upper lip" or "nose area" (basically the region right above the mandibles) is called the clyepus.

 

Is it just me or are there more specialized names for ant body parts than for other insects?

eg. "gaster" not "abdomen" (although they aren't exactly the same, the abdomen is both the gaster and petiole(s) together I think?)
"alitrunk" not "thorax"

Today I'm going to read the description for Lasius neoniger and verify that the pinned worker I have matches all of the listed items. Should be fun!

[ANTdrew]

Do you have a copy of A Field Guide to the Ants of New England? It has a nice illustrated diagram of all the parts on the inside back cover.

[Mettcollsuss]

The true abdomen covers the gaster, the petiole(s), and the propodeum. Alitrunk is a bit outdated iirc, the more modern term is mesosoma. The mesosoma/alitrunk refers to the thorax + propodeum. The term is used because the propodeum is technically part of the abdomen but visually and effectively part of the thorax, so it's more useful to refer to it in combination with the true thorax.

https://antwiki.org/...hological_Termshas helped me with much similar confusion in the past.