Eciton
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Subphylum: Hexapoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Superfamily: Vespoidea Family: Formicidae Subfamily: Ecitoninae Tribe: Ecitonini Genus: Eciton Latreille, 1804
Species
Eciton burchellii Eciton drepanophorum Eciton dulcium Eciton hamatum Eciton jansoni Eciton lucanoides Eciton mexicanum Eciton quadrigiume Eciton rapax Eciton setigaster Eciton uncinatum Eciton vagans Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Animalia redirects here. ... Subphyla and Classes Subphylum Trilobitomorpha Trilobita - trilobites (extinct) Subphylum Chelicerata Arachnida - spiders,scorpions, etc. ... Classes & Orders Class Insecta (insects) Unplaced orders:    Order Diplura    Order Collembola (springtails)    Order Protura The subphylum Hexapoda constitutes the largest (in terms of number of species) grouping of arthropods and includes the insects as well as a few much smaller groups of wingless arthropods closely related to insects: Collembola, Protura... Orders See taxonomy Insects (Class Insecta) are a major group of arthropods and the most diverse group of animals on the Earth, with over a million described species — more than all other animal groups combined [1]. Insects may be found in nearly all environments on the planet, although only a... Suborders Apocrita Symphyta Many families, see article Hymenoptera is one of the larger orders of Insects, comprising the sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. ... Superfamilies Apoidea Ceraphronoidea Chalcidoidea Chrysidoidea Cynipoidea Evanioidea Ichneumonoidea Megalyroidea Proctotrupoidea Sphecoidea Stephanoidea Triganalyoidea Vespoidea Many families, see article Apocrita is a suborder of insects in the order Hymenoptera. ... Vespoidea is a Superfamily of Order Hymenoptera of Class Insecta, although other taxonomic schemes may vary in this categorization. ... Subfamilies Formicomorph subfamilies Aneuretinae Dolichoderinae Formicinae - e. ... Tribes Cheliomyrmecini Dorylini (incl. ... Pierre André Latreille (November 20, 1762 - February 6, 1833) was a French entomologist. ...

The New World army ant genus Eciton contains the most familiar species of army ants. The most predominant and well-known species is Eciton burchellii, whose common name is "army ant" and which is considered to be the archetypal species. Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, c. ... There are over 200 known species of army ant, divided into New World and Old World types. ... For other uses of the word, please see Genus (disambiguation). ... In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biodiversity. ...

Eciton burchellii and Eciton hamatum are the most visible and best studied of the New World army ants because they forage above ground and during the day, in enormous raiding swarms. Their range stretches from southern Mexico to the northern part of South America. South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ...

Life-cycle

Eciton army ants have a bi-phasic lifestyle in which they alternate between a nomadic phase and a stationary stage. In the stationary or statary phase ("statary" means "standing in place"), which lasts about three weeks, the ants remain in the same location every night. They make a nest out of their own bodies, protecting the queen and her eggs in the middle. This temporary home is known as a "bivouac". In the nomadic phase the ants move their entire colony to a new location nearly every night for two weeks. A bivouac is a structure formed by migratory army ant and driver ant colonies, where a nest is constructed out of the living ant workers own bodies to protect the queen and larvae, and is later deconstructed as the ants move on. ... An ant colony is an underground lair where ants live. ...

When the ants enter the statary phase, the queen's body swells massively and she lays as many as 250,000 eggs in less than a week. While the eggs mature, the ants swarm with less frequency and intensity. When the eggs hatch, the excitement caused by the increased activity of the larvae causes the colony to enter the nomadic phase. The colony swarms much more intensely and nearly every day, and the ants move to a new location every night. After two weeks, around the time when the larvae begin to pupate, the colony again enters the statary phase, and the cycle begins anew (Schneirla, 1971). A larva (Latin; plural larvae) is a juvenile form of animal with indirect development, undergoing metamorphosis (for example, insects or amphibians). ... Chrysalis of Gulf Fritillary in Georgetown, South Carolina Pupation of Inachis io A pupa (plural: pupae or pupas) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. ...

Because of the regularity and intensity of E. burchelli and E. hamatum swarms, many insect and bird species have evolved complex relationships with these ants. There are conopid flies (the entire genus Stylogaster) that are obligate associates of army ant raids, and females lay their eggs on insects (mostly crickets and roaches) flushed into the open by the ants, and there are also some tachinid flies that are somewhat similar in behavior. There are ant-mimicking staphylinid beetles, shaped like the ants they follow, that run with the swarm, some of them preying on stragglers or other insects injured or flushed by army-ant activity, though most of these are inquilines in the ant nest; these and other insects sometimes spend their entire lives hidden in Eciton colonies, often mimicking the ants or their larvae. Many species of birds—mostly cuckoos, woodcreepers, tanagers, and antbirds—feed near the swarms. About 50 of the approximately 200 species of antbirds specialize in preying on insects fleeing the ants, getting up to half their food this way. Some of these birds actively check army-ant bivouacs each morning and follow the foraging trail to the swarm front, where they take positions based on their species' relations in a dominance hierarchy. A swarm may be attended by as many as 25 birds of one or two "professional" species and individual birds of as many as 30 other species. There are even butterflies (esp. the tribe Ithomiini) that feed almost exclusively on the feces of these bird species. Genera See text. ... For the insect, see Cricket (insect). ... Binomial name Rutilus rutilus Linnaeus, 1758 The Roach (Rutilus rutilus, family Cyprinidae, plural also roach) is a small freshwater and brackish water fish native to most of Europe and western Asia. ... Genera  Lasiona  Lasioneura  Leptostylum The tachinid flies (family Tachinidae) are by far the largest and most important group of insect parasitic flies, with over 1300 species in North America. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Genera (thousands, see text) The rove beetles are a large family (Staphylinidae) of beetles, primarily distinguished by their short elytra that leave more than half of their abdomens exposed. ... An inquiline is an animal that lives commensally in the nest, burrow, or dwelling place of an animal of another species. ... Genera See text. ... Genera Dendrocincla Sittasomus Glyphorynchus Drymornis Nasica Dendrexetastes Hylexetastes Xiphocolaptes Dendrocolaptes Xiphorhynchus Lepidocolaptes Campylorhamphus The woodcreepers are a family of passerine bird species endemic to the neotropics. ... Genera many: see text The tanagers are a large group of small to medium-sized passerine birds restricted to the New World, mainly in the tropics. ... Genera Many, see text. ... Feces, faeces, or fæces (see spelling differences) is waste product from an animals digestive tract expelled through the anus (or cloaca) during defecation. ...

In Africa, thrushes of the genus Alethes follow army-ant swarms, as do some bulbuls in both Africa and Asia. A world map showing the continent of Africa. ... Genera 22 genera, see text The Thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur mainly but not exclusively in the Old World. ... Genera Alethe The Alethes are small mainly insectivorous birds in the genus Alethe of the thrush family Turdidae. ... Genera See text. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ...

(Some of the text above is used with permission of the author, Tim Brown, from his InfiniteWorld website).

External links

• Tree of Life - Eciton
• Tree of Life - Ecitoninae
• Discover Life - Formicidae: Eciton

References

• Schneirla, T.C. (1971). in H. R. Topoff (Ed.): Army ants. A study in social organization. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman & Co. ISBN 0-7167-0933-3. 
• Wilson, E.O., and B. Hölldobler (1990) The Ants (Pulitzer Prize)