army ants
Nomadic insect horde
Army ants are tropical ants that form massive nomadic colonies, traveling in swarms to hunt prey rather than building permanent nests.
They move in columns that can number in the millions, consuming insects, small vertebrates, and anything else in their path.
The army ants stripped the forest floor clean.
Vertical structural element
- raidSudden armed incursion
- hordeDisorganized, overwhelming crowd
- massQuantity of matter
- throngDense pressing crowd
teeming · multitude · procession · stream · aggregation · infestation · wave · flood
Paired arthropod mouthparts
- antennaeSensory appendages on insects
- exoskeletonExternal skeletal structure
- arthropodJointed-limb invertebrate phylum
- invertebrateAnimal sans backbone
larvae · pupa · queen · worker · soldier · entomology · pheromones · metamorphosis
Seeking wild food sources
- huntingPursuing wild game
- preyAnimal being hunted
- carnivorousFeeding on animal flesh
- ambushSurprise strike from concealment
capture · mandibles · dismember · devour · voracious · feasting · scavengers · overwhelming
Movement to new territory
- bivouacTemporary military encampment
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
- itinerantMoving for work
relocating · transient · encampment · marching · unsettled
Dependent territorial settlement
- division of laborSplitting tasks among workers
- teamworkJoint effort toward shared aim
- social structurePatterned relationships in society
- caste systemHereditary class division
queen · workers · soldiers · communal · cohesion · efficiency · superorganism · collective intelligence
column
Vertical structural element
throng · teeming · multitude · procession · stream · aggregation · infestation · wave · flood · march
mandibles
Paired arthropod mouthparts
- antennaeSensory appendages on insects
- exoskeletonExternal skeletal structure
- arthropodJointed-limb invertebrate phylum
invertebrate · larvae · pupa · queen · worker · soldier · entomology · pheromones · metamorphosis · instar
foraging
Seeking wild food sources
- huntingPursuing wild game
- preyAnimal being hunted
- carnivorousFeeding on animal flesh
ambush · capture · mandibles · dismember · devour · voracious · feasting · scavengers · overwhelming · stripping
migration
Movement to new territory
- bivouacTemporary military encampment
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- roamingMoving without fixed purpose
itinerant · relocating · transient · encampment · marching · unsettled
colony
Dependent territorial settlement
- division of laborSplitting tasks among workers
- teamworkJoint effort toward shared aim
- social structurePatterned relationships in society
caste system · queen · workers · soldiers · communal · cohesion · efficiency · superorganism · collective intelligence · self-organization
- superorganismsbee colony, bee colonies, termite colony, Portuguese man-of-war, honeybees
- insectsbee, bees, butterfly, butterflies, beetle
- arthropodsarthropod, arthropods, Arthropoda, insects, insect
- Amazon RainforestAmazon, tropical rainforest, Amazon rainforest, Amazon basin, jungle
- antsFormica
- pestsbugs, cockroach, cockroaches, roach, roaches
army antsharvester ants
Seed-collecting social insects
carpenter ants · leafcutter ants · aphids · termites · fire ants
army antsaphids
Sap-feeding garden insects
solitary bees · prey species · caterpillars · butterflies · hermit crabs
army, ant, military, ants, militant, armies, militancy, militarism, militaristic