Ant Basics

Wherever you are in this vast world, whether in the suburbs or the city, up in the mountains or down on the plains, if you crouch down and take a closer look at the creatures on the ground, the easiest one to spot is almost certainly the ant.

Ants belong to the kingdom Animalia, phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae. They are the insects with the greatest number of species and the greatest total numbers in the world, which gives you a sense of how important ants are globally.

It is estimated that more than 20,000 species of ants exist worldwide. Around 13,000 have actually been discovered and named so far, and that number keeps growing. Even on an island as small as Taiwan, there are an estimated 300 to 400 species of ants, of which around 290 have been formally named to date.

Beyond their diversity and sheer numbers, their social structure and feeding habits are also among the reasons ants hold such an important place in the world’s ecosystems.

You are welcome to share and repost this article, but please credit the source.