5 replies to this topic

[futurebird]

In any other species of ant, if they had majors with jaws like this, that would be what the species was most famous for. But the Saharan Silver Ant (Cataglyphis bombycina) is far more famous for being the fastest ant when it comes to running and navigating. 


 

Though really, this ant has always sounded like something a 10-year-old made up. "They are silver and and they live in the desert and and they only go out at the hottest time of day and and they are the fastest ants in the world and and they have majors with GIANT jaw and and--" These ants are just too cool. (or too hot)

What I would like to know is what is the deal with these majors and their extreme jaws? The majors don't generally go on the mid-day food runs-- but maybe such big jaws could help if the ants stumbled on a huge bounty of food, like a small lizard or something. It's also probably about defending the nest as in videos about these ants you see the majors hanging around menacingly near the nest entrance. That said, I have not seen much about their bite. I don't even know if they'd try to bite a person if provoked. 

One theory that I have is the majors just look scary. You look at this ant and think "nope." and maybe that's the point. 

[Ernteameise]

These jaws remind me a lot of the jaws of soldiers of the army ant Eciton.
I am right now reading Moffet‘s. book „Adventures among ants“ and there is a chapter on army ants and these soldiers are used mainly as defense.
All the hunting and killing is mainly done by the normal workers, but if a large mammal dares to attack the swarm, they strike back.

[Jonathan5608]

These jaws remind me a lot of the jaws of soldiers of the army ant Eciton.
I am right now reading Moffet‘s. book „Adventures among ants“ and there is a chapter on army ants and these soldiers are used mainly as defense.
All the hunting and killing is mainly done by the normal workers, but if a large mammal dares to attack the swarm, they strike back.

I don’t really understand how these jaws would help in a fight. I mean they look menacing no doubt but functionally I would think I painful sting would be better those jaws. Maybe looks is the whole idea to scare of predators

[Mettcollsuss]

Yes, they're for defense.

 

"Unlike most other species in this genus, C. bombycina has large soldiers characterized by saber-shaped mandibles occurring together with winged queens and size-polymorphic workers. Molet et al. (2014) used morphometrics to show that the soldier caste exhibits a mosaic phenotype, i.e. combining queen and worker traits. Soldiers appear to function both for defense (specialized mandibles) and food storage (big abdomen)."

 

Their lack of any teeth along the masticatory margin means they're probably not for picking anything up. They're not entirely analogous to Eciton soldiers' mandibles, as those have more of a hook shape, I imagine for getting a secure hold on an opponent so that it can be swarmed by others and/or to latch on so it can sting. I think bombycina's mandibles are best compared to, well, a saber, or at least some kind of sword/blade. They seem like they'd be good at slicing into predators to deter them from the nest.

 

I feel it's also worth mentioning that bombycina are not the only Cataglyphis like this. The less well-known Cataglyphis kurdistanica also has soldiers with saber-like mandibles, albeit not quite as extreme as bombycina's. What's interesting is that bombycina and kurdistanica are relatively unrelated, meaning that these mandibles are either prone to convergently evolving among Catalgyphis or are somewhat ancestral to the genus. I think it's possible that many of the rarer, less studied, and less well-known Cataglyphis species may have similar soldiers.

 

Edit: I've also heard anecdotal evidence of species such as C. nodus occasionally having some larger workers with slightly more developed mandibles. i can't personally speak to the validity of this, but if true, it's another interesting footnote in the idea of either convergence or ancestral saber mandibles.

Edited by Mettcollsuss, May 29 2023 - 8:12 PM.

[Amatty76]

I'm with meticulous on this one

[OiledOlives]

Meticulous knowledgeable and I am not

Sent from my IN2015 using Tapatalk