Sahara Desert ant
{{short description|Species of ant}}
{{Speciesbox
| taxon = Cataglyphis bicolor
| image = Cataglyphis bicolor casent0104612 profile 1.jpg
| image_caption = C. bicolor worker
| authority = Fabricius, 1793
}}
The Sahara Desert ant (Cataglyphis bicolor) is a desert-dwelling ant of the genus Cataglyphis. It primarily inhabits the Sahara Desert and is one of the most heat tolerant animals known to date. However, there are at least four other species of Cataglyphis living in the Sahara desert, for example C. bombycina, {{ill|Cataglyphis savignyi|sv}}, {{ill|Cataglyphis mauritanicus|sv}} and C. fortis. Also, specimens of C. bicolor have been found well north of Sahara.{{cite journal |first1=I. Z. |last1=Petrov |year=1986 |title=Distribution of species of the genus Cataglyphis Foerster, 1850 (Formicidae, Hymenoptera) in Yugoslavia |url=https://archive.org/download/ants_10311/10311.pdf |journal=Arhiv Bioloskih Nauka |volume=38 |pages=11–12 }}
Background
Sahara Desert ants are scavengers. They forage for the corpses of insects and other arthropods which have succumbed to the heat stress of their desert environment.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}
While no known land animal can live permanently at a temperature over 50 °C, Sahara Desert ants can sustain a body temperature above {{convert|50|C}},{{Cite journal|last1=Gehring|first1=W. J.|last2=Wehner|first2=R.|date=March 1995|title=Heat shock protein synthesis and thermotolerance in Cataglyphis, an ant from the Sahara desert|journal=PNAS|volume=92|issue=7|pages=2994–2998|doi=10.1073/pnas.92.7.2994|pmid=7708762|pmc=42345|bibcode=1995PNAS...92.2994G|doi-access=free}} with surface temperatures of up to {{convert|70|C}}. Despite this, if out in the open, they must keep moving or else they will fry.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}
The ants navigate the desert terrain by using both visual spatial memory and patterns in skylight. When light strikes the ant's ommatidia, it is uniformly mapped along the ant's eye, creating a grid that can be used to determine its location.{{Cite journal|last1=Wehner|first1=R.|last2=Räber|first2=F.|date=December 1979|title=Visual spatial memory in desert ants, Cataglyphis bicolor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)|journal=Experientia|volume=35|issue=12|pages=1569–1571|doi=10.1007/bf01953197|s2cid=41858070|issn=0014-4754}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{more citations needed|date=September 2018}}
External links
- {{commonscat-inline|Cataglyphis bicolor|Cataglyphis bicolor}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1717126}}
Category:Hymenoptera of Africa