phys.org/news/2022-09-earth-harbours-ants-wild-birds.html20 quadrillion. That's the estimated global ant population. I know there are a lot of those little ankle biters. Ants try to invade my house twice a year, during spring and fall migrations, looking for new bivouac sites, free food, and sexy mates. I'm always ready to fight the invaders -- A Raid product works but is only temporary. Fire ants are the apex predator ants. No much bothers with them.
This ant mass exceeds the mass of all the world's birds and mammals combined. Not suprised about that calculation. But, why did the mass metric not include other insects? Why just birds and mammals? What about all that sea life spread across 80% of the earth's surface and down to the ocean bed? Ant weight is also equal to about one-fifth of the total weight of humans in 2022. The human population is 7.97 billion souls and completely out of control. I don't think the ant population is out of control yet. They might catch up to humans if there is another people pandemic.
Someone climate guy also estimated the ant population equals about 12 million tons of dry carbon. We know that ants are good recyclers.
My Business involves these creatures:
Fact in Some States Like Florida
Carpenter Ants are NOT considered a wood destroying organism
iN some states like Pennsylvania they are a wood destroying organism
and will go on the inspection report known as a WDO or WDIR.
Ant vs termite
Ants have easily visible segmented bodies head, thorax and abdomen
The waist of an ant is very small. "pinched waist" big abdomen
The antenna on the head of the ant go out left and right at first then turn forward
Ants have smaller wings in their elate stage
and the wings are of different size.
Termites
Though they are an insect it is hard to tell the body segments
apart. Think of a cigar Termites are fatter than ants usually
The termite antenna go straight out from the head forward not to the
side first like an ant. Termites live eat mulch, cardboard, anything with cellulose
.They are actually more related to the cockroach than to the ant,
Termites have a caste system workers, soldiers, Alates (breeders)
Queen
The workers are blind
They are a amber white color, the soldier has a darker head
The Alates have wings and do have swarming seasons.
The queen is huge lays an egg every 14 seconds and mates with the smaller king
NOW THE SHOCKER A termite queen usually can live in nature for 20 years or more
some have lived to be around 50 years of age,
There are DRYWOOD TERMITES They are found in coastal states
for the most part and are sometimes found elsewhere.
Drywood termites are brown in the elates "winged" The wings perfectly
isometric over each other. They have a blue green tint to them and a long vein
that extends the length of the wing it is at the very edge and is brown. Their
wing color looks like the color of oil spilled on a driveway. They can have several
colonies in a homes. They colonies are smaller. They leave wood like pellets known
as frass. That is their feces is is firm not soft because it is digested wood,
It looks like the color of coffee grounds and are found on window sills attics
entry ways or even furniture. The frass can be many colors or mixed in color
They way to tell frass from dirt is it is usually bigger andall particles are the same size.
Dirt is irregular. Mnay homes today are infested by people buying cabinets
for their kitchen or bath and bringing them into the home.
One person I know bought a pool table on EBAY had them in it
Another brought an old window frame painted a beautiful picture on it
and put it on the wall. It had termites. Another bought an antique.
China Cabinet.
Termites cause 5 Billion in damages to homes each year
These are the termites that a house is tented or fumigated to get rid of them.
Drywood termites get their name because once they get into the home
they live in the wood. Attics are common place areas.
Subterranean termites live under ground and
come up into all kinds of tiny openings and get into
crawlspaces cracks slabs wood frame homes etc.
They are in all 50 states less likely to find in Alaska.
They must go into the home or building eat wood
and bring it back to the colony that lives 12-16 feet underground
They are very destructive . Subs have huge colonies.
One species the Formosan termite can have millions in a colony
and eat a house like a mill.
There are swarms I have seen that are hundreds of thousands
I have pictures of millions of dollars in damages.
Ant damage as well also fungus from moisture.
There are stories that termites eat concrete now. LOL
They actually eat through thin seams in the concrete
they dont drill. LOL
Subterranean termites are usually black in color
and have opaque wings or whitish color wings
But there are many species of subs
Asian, Formosan, Eastern, arrid, there are over 26 in Florida
Termites cause 5 billion dollars on average every year in damages to homes
check out the size of a termite queen next to her king
University of Florida Our company works with them
in studies etc.
edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IG097www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-can-ant-and-termite-queens-live-so-long-180979408/