An Ant and its Leg

Applause IconApr 26, 2022 • 1:21 AM UTC
Location IconUnknown Location
Applause Icon140x Magnification
Applause IconMicroorganisms
caiocbonin

Learn about the author...

1posts
0comments
0locations
In the beginning of the year, I had an ant infestation in my dorm. When I got back from the first day of class, I saw a multitude of them crawling up and down the walls of my room in a path, following the railing of my window, to the corners of the walls. I find it impressive that such a tiny insect can carry and transport its food. Inspired by their abilities, I decided to observe an ant and one of its legs under the foldscope. The samples obtained are dead ants found on the railing of my window. From my observations, an ant’s leg, although almost invisible to the naked eye, has a lot of complex structures. For example, one of the images included here clearly shows hair-like spikes coming out of the ant’s leg. Would these be the reason those ants had once been climbing the walls of my room? I believe these hair-like structures create a friction that allows the ant to climb anything. I noticed that there are nodes along the ant’s leg, making it seem as if the leg was composed of smaller sections that are put together. I believe these nodes are what allows ants to bend or move their appendages in any direction for movement and picking up objects. I also noticed from one of the pictures that the end of the ant’s appendage seems to be broken up into two smaller structures that resemble to be fingers or claws that could help ants carry their food.
End of the leg has a structure similar to a claw
Hair-like spikes

Sign in to commentNobody has commented yet... Share your thoughts with the author and start the discussion!

More Posts from caiocbonin

No more posts from this author.