What do ants eat?

An ant 'tending' to its aphids.

The diet of ant varies widely from species to species. Whilst some ants eat solely nectar, others may be predatory and eat other insects such as flies, beetle eggs and wasps.  However, a large amount of ants eat honeydew through a process called 'aphid farming'. Ants have a mutualistic relationship with tiny insects called aphids. These aphids eat the sugary fluid from the plant phloem. They then excrete a sticky substance called honeydew, which is effectively 'aphid feces'. Ants stimulate the release of this honeydew by rubbing their antennae on the aphids. In return, the ants provide the aphids with protection from other predatory insects.

Leafcutter Ants carrying vegetation back to their nest.

Ants also enjoy eating fungi. So much so, that they actually farm the fungi in their nests. Fungi-eating ants are called Attine ants and there are more than 230 species of them. Leafcutter ants are a popular type of attine ant. They use leaves and other vegetation as a substrate for their fungi-growing activities.

Myrmecochory

Myrmecochory is basically a fancy word for seed dispersal. Ants are widely known as seed dispersers and they provide seed dispersal tasks for more than 3000 species of plants. You may wonder why an ant would act as a seed disperser (what do they get out of it?). Well, almost all seeds have a fleshy nutritious part called an elaiosome. This elaiosome is rich in proteins, sugars and fats are provides a nutritious meal for the ant. The ant will carry the seed, using the elaisome as a handle and it will then take this seed back to its nest. Once the seed is in its nest, the ant will eat the elaiosome and the seed will then grow out of the nest. This is beneficial to the plant because once the seed is in the ants nest, the seed will have more chance of surviving till germination because the ants nest is in a seclude location, therefore, this location can protect the seed from predation by small rodents and environmental damage (fire etc.)

Why are ants so important??

Class: Insecta   Order: Hymenoptera

Ants are arthropods and there are roughly 12,000 species of Ants that vary greatly in their size, morphology and eating habits.  Ants are often called ecological engineers because of the variety of tasks they perform for our ecosystem. They have roles in seed dispersal, pollination, increasing nutrient in the soil and they have mutualistic relationships with several organisms such as plant, animals and microorganisms. Farmers have also been known to use ants as a biological Pesticide.

Scientific Research

•  Ward, P.S. (2007) Phylogeny, classification, and species-level taxonomy of ants (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) *. Zootaxa 1-766
•       Price, P.W., Bouton, C.E., Gross, P., McPheron, B.A., Thompson, J.N., Weis, A.E. (1980) Interactions Among Three Trophic Levels: Influence of Plants on Interactions Between Insect Herbivores and Natural Enemies. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 11: 41-65
•       Van Mele, P., Cuc, N.T.T. (2001) Farmers' Perceptions and Practices in Use of Dolichoderus thoracicus (Smith) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for Biological Control of Pests of Sapodilla. Biological control 20: 23-29
•  Liepert, C., Dettner, K. (1993) Recognition of aphid parasitoids by honeydew-collecting ants: The role of cuticular lipids in a chemical mimicry system. Journal of Chemical Ecology 19:2143–2153
• Hӧlldobler, B. (1995) The chemistry of social regulation: multicomponent signals in ant societies. PNAS 92: 19-22

•       Abensperg-Traun, M., Steven, D. (2006) Ant- and termite-eating in Australian mammals and lizards: a comparison. Australian Journal of Ecology 22:9-17