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Flying Ants; Could worker ants re-evolve flight?
Topic Started: Oct 22 2010, 11:47 PM (2,905 Views)
Spugpow Oct 22 2010, 11:47 PM Post #1
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I don't know how widely known this is, but apparently there are some ants that, upon falling off a branch, are able to glide back to their tree.

Here's a link to a website with more info and videos of ants gliding: http://www.canopyants.com/glide_intro.html

The question is, could the ants take this further, re-evolving the flight they lost so long ago?



Secondary question: how did insect flight evolve anyway? I've heard some vague mumblings about paranotal lobes and larval gills, but it's still kind of a mystery to me.
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Ook Oct 25 2010, 11:56 PM Post #31
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interesting,I know only Camponotus anderseni
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TheBioBassist Nov 9 2010, 08:47 AM Post #32
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Naked Man (who fears no pick pockets)
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Xenon
Oct 25 2010, 04:41 PM
Quote:
 
Here's a short wikipedia article about the swamp ant:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyrhachis_sokolova

Ah, thank you! I searched for videos of this thing and found this amazing clip on YouTube;



These ants are already finely adapted for an amphibian lifestyle, and given the rise of the sea level that's going on right now, I think it's fully possible for them to adapt themselves into being even more aquatic, until they finally loose connection with the inner land completely.

awesome video, do you know what series this is from? I would love to see more!
"The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "eureka" ( I found it) but "that's funny......""
-Isaac Asimov
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Xenon Nov 9 2010, 12:00 PM Post #33
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The series is the BBC documentary Life in the Undergrowth. I don't know which episode this footage is in, but the whole series is awesome, so I recommend you to watch it all :)

About gliding ants, such adaptation could have an unique advantage. I'm thinking about a colony that's not restricted to one place, but kind of "split up" in/on different trees that dwells close together. In this way the ants can practicably control the entire 3 dimensional space between these "sub-colonies" by constantly transport between them through gliding. Say, if a predator or enemy of other sort tries to invade one of these tiny colonies, ants from another "sub-colony" on a neighbor tree would, through accurate smell, be alerted by the issue and use their flat wide bodies to glide to the attacked "sub-colony" on the opposite side of their own, onto the unprotected back of the enemy.

Also, could these weaver ants use their silk to produce a spider-esque web or at least something in a similar fashion?
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Ook Nov 9 2010, 12:08 PM Post #34
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considering that only larvae produces this silk,it will be very..hmm.. unproductive
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colddigger Nov 9 2010, 12:56 PM Post #35
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There could be a high production of larvae, and a lengthy larval stage...
Oh Fine.

Oh hi you! Why don't you go check out the finery that is SGP??

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Spugpow Nov 9 2010, 10:54 PM Post #36
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Or partially neotenic adults, kind of like glow worms.

I really like the idea of colonial web-building ants. They could probably kick the asses of those colonial spiders and take over :D .
Edited by Spugpow, Nov 9 2010, 10:55 PM.
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