Mike wrote to the “Consult-Ant” with a number of questions about ants. I am going to try to answer each one in a separate post. For the original list of questions and links to all answers, visit here.
Question 1) I’m interested in the ant’s digestion process and its role in the colony. I’ve read that some ants, the fully mature ones that is, can’t digest solid food due to their narrow waists. So is it true that the ants would take the solid food back to the colony and give them to their larvae where, there, it is digested and converted into a liquid form? I’m guessing that the larvae have the enzymes to digest the solid food. But does this process apply to ALL ants in terms of species?
I actually tackled this topic to some extent in my post about ant larvae, but I’ll re-state some of the high points here.
Because the petiole is so narrow and constricted, ants do have a specialized digestive system. When an ant eats, the food goes into a special pouch called the infrabuccal pocket in its mouth, which acts like a food strainer. The infrabuccal pocket prevents large particles from continuing into the digestive system. Probably the size of the particle allowed through varies from species to species, but in the carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus, particles larger than 100 microns are excluded from entering the alimentary canal . The liquid and tiniest particles that can move through the narrow petiole are sucked into a tube and pass through into a special reservoir in the gaster called the crop. The ant spits out the leftover bits that were too big to go through the food strainer. The rejected bits are called infrabuccal pellets.
Scientists have long known that the worker ants feed all solids to the larvae first for processing. The larvae were thought to chew up, swallow and predigest the food, using enzymes, as you guessed. The larvae then regurgitate it back to the workers to distribute throughout the colony.
Recently, however, researchers have shown that in one species of bigheaded ants (Pheidole) the workers actually place the food on the surface of the belly of the larvae in a special groove (larvae lay on their backs). The larvae spit out the enzymes onto the food, basically drooling on themselves. After a few hours, the workers come back and pick up the slime that results, feeding some of it to the larvae and taking some for themselves. According to videos of the larvae processing bits of fruit fly, the larvae very rarely sip any of the gooey liquid while the food is dissolving; they wait patiently until the food is done and let the worker ants feed them.
Probably the most surprising aspect of ant larvae is that not only do worker ants bring them food, but the larvae are often sources of food themselves. Certain species of ant larvae have special structures that allow the workers to access the internal body fluids (hemolymph), a sort of pump or “tap.”
The so-called Dracula ants take things a step further. These rare ants get their name from the fact that they cut holes in the sides of the larvae and suck out hemolymph. Although this sounds pretty gruesome, the larvae survive having holes bitten into them and later become workers themselves.
Another odd behavior of this group is that the workers carry the larvae to their food and place them on it, rather than carrying the food to the larvae, as most other ants do. For example, instead of cutting up a caterpillar or millepede into chunks and carrying it into the nest to feed the larvae, Dracula ants carry the larvae out to the caterpillar. Once they have fed, the larvae become food themselves.
If you think about it, the adult ant’s weird digestion system does work because adults don’t need a lot of protein for growth, they mainly need carbohydrates for energy. The same is true for some birds. The adult birds may drink sap or nectar, but feed protein-rich insects to their growing chicks.
Anyone else have anything to add?
References:
Gotwald, W.H, Jr. 1969. Comparative morphological studies of the ants, with particular reference to the mouthparts (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station. Memoir 408.
Hansen, L. D., and J. H. Klotz. (2005). Carpenter ants of the United States and Canada. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates. This book has an excellent chapter on ant morphology.
Keiichi Masuko (1986). Larval Hemolymph Feeding: A Nondestructive Parental Cannibalism in the Primitive Ant Amblyopone silvestrii Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol. 19, No. 4: 249-255
Keiichi Masuko (1989). Larval Hemolymph Feeding in the Ant Leptanilla japonica by Use of a Specialized Duct Organ, the “Larval Hemolymph Tap” (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol. 24, No. 2: 127-132
Keiichi Masuko (2008). Larval stenocephaly related to specialized feeding in the ant genera Amblyopone, Leptanilla and Myrmecina (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Arthropod Structure & Development Volume 37, Issue 2: 109-117
D. L. Cassill, J. Butler, S. B. Vinson and D. E. Wheeler (2005). Cooperation during prey digestion between workers and larvae in the ant, Pheidole spadonia. Insectes Sociaux Volume 52, Number 4: 339-343.
My 7 year old nephew, Graeme, wants to know how ants “go to the bathroom”, or poop. Please explain.
Because ants have a waist that is so narrow and constricted, ants have a unique digestive system. When an ant eats, the food goes into a special pouch in its mouth, which acts like a food strainer. The liquid and tiniest particles that can move through the narrow waist are sucked into a tube and pass through into a special reservoir called the crop. The ant spits out the leftover bits that were too big to go through the food strainer. (They are kind of like the pellets regurgitated by owls, if you know about that.)
This leads to the question, “do ants go to the bathroom?” The answer is yes, adult ants do. After digestion, the remains of the meal pass out through the rectum in the form of feces. Ants inside the nest have special areas that act as restrooms. Outside they go wherever they happen to be.
Adult ants also produce a liquid that could be called urine.
The ant larva, however, does not go to the bathroom. Its gut does not go completely through to the outside; it ends in a pouch inside the body. All the wastes accumulate within the larva’s abdomen. You can actually see this through the larva’s exoskeleton as a black dot. Once the larva completes its development and starts to form a cocoon, it finally can get rid of the wastes. The wastes form a black blotch in the tip of the cocoon.
You can see the brown dots at the end of the cocoons in the second photo here: http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2010/04/02/ant-eggs-versus-pupae/
Hope that helps. It is wonderful that you are willing to try to find the answers for his questions.
I was wondering- Do ants, on occasion, eat other ants from the same colony, such as when they need food, or because an ant is disabled from working? Or do they do it out of whim?
Emily,
If ants are starving, they might eat other members of their colony. Generally the offspring go first (eggs, larvae, pupae).
Does ant eat cement ?
No, ants do not eat cement. They have a special filter in their digestive systems that prevent them from eating solid food. That said, they might chew at certain surfaces. Carpenter ants chew on wood. Ant is ant farms might chew on plastic.
Thank you soo much for information,
i am doing post graduation
And i want to do research on ant
And i was thought that ant eat cement, so now
will you plzz suggest me any intresting topic or say fact about an ant on which i can do my experiment..
I would suggest that you go out and observe your local ants. Ask questions about what you observe and pay attention to things you find interesting. A research project will take a great deal of your time and energy, so it helps if you research a question you truly want to find out the answer to.
Are you interested in ant digestion? If so, I would suggest looking into the microorganisms in the guts, particularly of the larvae. http://blog.wildaboutants.com/2016/05/10/gut-microsymbionts-in-ants/
I was feeding the neighborhood strays some honey and I saw they were puking up some black pellets to the side. What is that and why? Thanks!!!
You are observant. As the article suggests, those are likely infrabuccal pellets, which are the ant form of a cat’s hairball. Either the honey had some solid impurities or what they had been feeding on previously did.
Hi, this is great information and very detailed explanation. I was wondering how long the digestive process takes to be completed. I have tried researching but all I find is that it takes 6-8 hours in humans. Thank you!
Sorry I missed this question. Ants are complicated because they often hold food in their crops until needs. Ants like honeypot repletes can hold the food for months.