What do Ants Eat? (BioE80 Spr2015)
May 27, 2015 • 3:49 AM UTC
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gnwagbo
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Using a foldscope for the first time was unreal. At the palm of my hand l was a tool connecting me to a rather unimaginable world. Given the task of looking for samples with which to use the extraordinary tool, my partner and I gathered three objects: a flower petal, a seed cut into half, and and ant. The ant was, in my opinion, the most fascinating find. With the magnificent specimen under my belt, my next task was to develop a question surrounding the creature. The question came to me upon further inspection of the ant; in the ant, there was a wad of some partially digested food in its abdominal cavity. Thus a question was conceived: What do ants eat?
Based on ants I have seen in my house, I knew that ants were attracted to sugar and sugar-like substances. This is easy to acquire for ants that have found their way into a household, but I never considered what ants would eat in an area with unprocessed sugars. Quickly, I came to realize that ants could be obtaining sugars from the glucose in plants. This would make sense as to why the ant specimen was in grass far from its colony, and why the embolus inside the ant was so dark and massive. Upon further research, I found that, while different ant species have different diets, most ants will eat sugary foods. They will feed on food substances like the sweet liquid produced by special plant glands called nectaries, as well as on the honeydew produced by sucking insects like aphids, whiteflies, scale insects, and mealybugs (http://www.extension.org/pages/60922/what-do-fire-ants-eat#.VWQjbU_BzRY).
Though my question was answered, many other questions still arise. What species of ant was my specimen? Knowing the type of ant would make it easier to figure out the type of food eaten by the species. HOw much food can an ant consume at one time? The matter in the ant I found seemed fairly large, but I do not know how much it had eaten, or how much food had already been digested. this leads to my last question to consider: How does an ant’s digestive system work?
Contributor: Gigi Nwagbo
Though my question was answered, many other questions still arise. What species of ant was my specimen? Knowing the type of ant would make it easier to figure out the type of food eaten by the species. HOw much food can an ant consume at one time? The matter in the ant I found seemed fairly large, but I do not know how much it had eaten, or how much food had already been digested. this leads to my last question to consider: How does an ant’s digestive system work?
Contributor: Gigi Nwagbo
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