Cataglyphis bicolor
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| Cataglyphis bicolor | ||||||||||
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Cataglyphis bicolor |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Cataglyphis bicolor | ||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1793) |
Cataglyphis bicolor is a species of ants whose habitat is limited to the Sahara desert .
Way of life
Their relatively long legs hold the rest of the body about 4 mm above the ground, where it is 10 ° C cooler than directly on the desert sand (which can heat up to 70 ° C).
The species is a scavenger . Their prey consists of the carcasses of insects and other arthropods .
They are organized in colonies that live in underground nests.
orientation
Their harsh, constantly changing environment makes it impossible for this species of ants to orient themselves by their sense of smell . When looking for prey, they rely on the polarization pattern of the sunlight in the sky to give them orientation. In order to recognize the distance covered, they use an internal pedometer , with the help of which they “count” their steps over a distance of up to hundreds of meters and in this way find their way back to their nest. On their way they can reach a maximum speed of 1 m per second.
Taxonomy
The delimitation of this species was understood differently than it is today until 1994, when the zoologist Rüdiger Wehner and colleagues recognized that what had previously been understood by this name is in reality a complex of three very similar species. The newly described sister species were named Cataglyphis viaticus and Cataglyphis savignyi . In the case of older publications, it must therefore be checked on which species concept the information is based and whether one of the newly recognized other species might not actually be common.
literature
- Peter Duelli: Orientation of the polarization pattern in the desert ant Cataglyphis bicolor Fabr: Formicidae, Hymenoptera . Diss., University of Zurich, 1974.
- Bruno Carlo Lanfranconi: Compass orientation according to the rotating sky pattern in the desert ant Cataglyphis bicolor . Diss., University of Zurich, 1982.
- Sandra Wohlgemuth, Bernhard Ronacher , Rüdiger Wehner: Ant odometry in the third dimension. Nature 411, 2001, pp. 795-798, doi : 10.1038 / 35081069 .
- Harald Wolf : Odometry and insect navigation. Journal of Experimental Biology 214, 2011, pp. 1629-1641, PMID 21525309 .
- R. Wehner, S. Wehner, D. Agosti (1994): Patterns of biogeographic distribution within the bicolor species group of the North African desert ant, Cataglyphis Foerster 1850 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae) . Senckenbergiana Biologica 74: 163-191.