Lesson type - combined
Methods: partially search, problem presentation, reproductive, explanatory and illustrative.
Target: mastering the ability to apply biological knowledge in practical activities, use information about modern achievements in the field of biology; work with biological devices, tools, reference books; conduct observations of biological objects;
Tasks:
Educational: the formation of cognitive culture, mastered in the process of educational activities, and aesthetic culture as the ability to have an emotional and value-based attitude towards objects of living nature.
Educational: development of cognitive motives aimed at obtaining new knowledge about living nature; cognitive qualities of a person associated with mastering the fundamentals of scientific knowledge, mastering methods of studying nature, and developing intellectual skills;
Educational: orientation in the system moral standards and values: recognition of the high value of life in all its manifestations, the health of one’s own and other people; environmental consciousness; nurturing love for nature;
Personal: understanding of responsibility for the quality of acquired knowledge; understanding the value of adequately assessing one’s own achievements and capabilities;
Cognitive: ability to analyze and evaluate the impact of environmental factors, risk factors on health, the consequences of human activities in ecosystems, the impact of one’s own actions on living organisms and ecosystems; focus on continuous development and self-development; ability to work with various sources information, convert it from one form to another, compare and analyze information, draw conclusions, prepare messages and presentations.
Regulatory: the ability to organize independent completion of tasks, evaluate the correctness of work, and reflect on one’s activities.
Communicative: formation communicative competence in communication and cooperation with peers, understanding the characteristics of gender socialization in adolescence, socially useful, educational and research, creative and other types of activities.
Technologies : Health conservation, problem-based, developmental education, group activities
Types of activities (content elements, control)
Formation in students of activity abilities and abilities to structure and systematize the subject content being studied: collective work - study of text and illustrative material, compilation of a table “Systematic groups of multicellular organisms” with the advisory assistance of student experts, followed by self-test; pair or group performance of laboratory work with the advisory assistance of a teacher, followed by mutual testing; independent work based on the material studied.
Planned results
Subject
understand the meaning of biological terms;
describe the structural features and basic life processes of animals of different systematic groups; compare the structural features of protozoa and multicellular animals;
recognize organs and organ systems of animals of different systematic groups; compare and explain reasons for similarities and differences;
establish the relationship between the structural features of organs and the functions they perform;
give examples of animals of different systematic groups;
distinguish the main systematic groups of protozoa and multicellular animals in drawings, tables and natural objects;
characterize the directions of evolution of the animal world; provide evidence of the evolution of the animal world;
Metasubject UUD
Cognitive:
to Work with different sources information, analyze and evaluate information, transform it from one form to another;
write theses, different kinds plans (simple, complex, etc.), structure educational material, give definitions of concepts;
carry out observations, perform elementary experiments and explain the results obtained;
compare and classify, independently choosing criteria for the specified logical operations;
build logical reasoning, including establishing cause-and-effect relationships;
create schematic models highlighting the essential characteristics of objects;
identify possible sources of necessary information, search for information, analyze and evaluate its reliability;
Regulatory:
organize and plan your educational activities— determine the purpose of the work, the sequence of actions, set tasks, predict the results of the work;
independently put forward options for solving assigned tasks, anticipate the final results of the work, choose the means to achieve the goal;
work according to plan, compare your actions with the goal and, if necessary, correct mistakes yourself;
master the basics of self-control and self-assessment for decision-making and implementation conscious choice in educational-cognitive and educational-practical activities;
Communicative:
listen and engage in dialogue, participate in collective discussion of problems;
integrate and build productive interactions with peers and adults;
use adequately speech means for discussion and argumentation of one’s position, to compare different points of view, to argue one’s point of view, to defend one’s position.
Personal UUD
Formation and development of cognitive interest in the study of biology and the history of the development of knowledge about nature
Techniques: analysis, synthesis, inference, translation of information from one type to another, generalization.
Basic Concepts
Hymenoptera; characteristics of units according to plan: structure and number of wings, type of mouthparts, type of transformation.
During the classes
Updating knowledge
Choose the correct answer in your opinion
1. Which butterfly is listed in the Red Book?
hawthorn
Cabbage butterfly
Peacock eye
2. How do butterflies pollinate flowers?
Pollen gets inside the butterfly's body and is released on other flowers as a result of the natural life activity of the butterfly's body.
Pollen from the flapping of a butterfly's wings scatters to neighboring flowers.
Pollen sticks to them due to its properties.
3. What is the name of a daytime butterfly from the white butterfly family, whose name is derived from a vegetable that grows in vegetable gardens? It got its name because it lays caterpillar larvae in the leaves of this plant.
Salad bowl
Cabbage butterfly
Carrot plant
borage
4. How do butterflies protect themselves from enemies?
They scare them off with their coloring or camouflage themselves.
They attack them first.
Most butterflies are poisonous or emit a very unpleasant and persistent odor, and predators themselves avoid them.
5. What is the name of a beautiful daytime butterfly with spots on its wings that look like eyes??
Peacock eye
cat's eye
Fish eye
6. How is the butterfly related to psychology?
In psychology, they define a stable negative life scenario, the name which "Butterfly Complex".
One of the areas of psychology is based on the so-called
Psychologists strongly advise to approach life lightly and carefree, as butterflies do.
7. The name of the film associated with a butterfly, in which American actor Ashton Kutcher went into the past in order to change the present.
Butterfly effect, 2004
8. Where do butterflies go in winter?
They lose their wings and become caterpillars again
They all die
They hibernate or fly to warmer climes
9. A butterfly of the swallowtail family with yellow wings with black and blue patterns.
Hives
Swallowtail
10. What order of insects do butterflies belong to?
Lepidoptera
Greatwings
Reticulata
11. Why is the flight of a butterfly silent?
Because they have pollen on their wings that muffles sounds.
Because the human ear cannot detect sounds of such frequency.
Because they have the ability to hypnotize a person and temporarily deprive him of hearing.
12. Which butterfly is named after its nurse grass?
Hives
Osochnitsa
horsetail
13. What is the name of the science that studies butterflies?
Coleopterology
Lepidopterology
Apiology
14. Which butterfly has transparent wings?
Greta Oto
Tiger sailboat
15. Which butterfly can fly a thousand kilometers without stopping?
Monarch
Blue Dwarf
16. What is “imago” in relation to a butterfly?
Caterpillar
Adult butterfly
17. Where are the butterfly's taste buds?
On the mustache
On the paws
18. What is the name of the only continent where butterflies have not been found?
Antarctica
19. What is the phrase “Hands work, eyes see. Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!”?
Ditto of a famous American boxer
Learning new material(teacher's story with elements of conversation)
Hymenoptera
2.What representatives of Hymenoptera live in your area?
General characteristics. Hymenoptera includes about 300 thousand species. These include sawflies, ants, bees, wasps, bumblebees, riders and other insects (Fig. 74). The body length of these insects ranges from 0.2 mm to 6 cm. They are distributed almost everywhere, with the exception of Antarctica. Hymenoptera have two pairs of transparent wings, on which there are few or almost no veins. The front wings are larger than the hind wings. In this case, the front and rear wings are meshed in flight and work as one whole wing. In many Hymenoptera, wings develop only during the mating season. On the head there are antennae, a pair of compound eyes and 3 simple ocelli, as well as a mouthparts - gnawing or licking.
Development of Hymenoptera with complete metamorphosis. They lay unfertilized or fertilized eggs. Of the former, only males develop, of the latter, females or workers. The larvae are similar to caterpillars, but differ in the location of their false legs. Males and females are easily distinguishable. U social species(bees, ants) there are sterile female workers.
Among the Hymenoptera there are plant pests, parasites, and predators.
Insects of this order, especially social ones, have the most complex behavior, sometimes reminiscent of conscious activity.
Riders They got their name for the position in which they lay eggs, sitting astride a moving victim, such as a caterpillar. The ability of riders to find their owners, even hidden in the wood at a depth of 2-4 cm, is surprising.
Riders: Ephialtes, Rissa, Megarissa
The ovipositor of such ichneumon is more than twice as long as the body, it has serrations at the end, and the ichneumon ichneumons screw it into the wood like a drill. This takes several hours.
Honey bee lives wherever flowering plants are found
Bees are social insects that live in families. The bee family includes up to 80 thousand bees. The vast majority of members of this family are worker bees (sterile females). In a family of bees there is always one female capable of laying eggs - the queen. Its main function is to lay up to 2-3 thousand eggs every day in the warm season. In the summer, several hundred males—drones—appear in the family. They don’t work, don’t protect their family, and can’t get food on their own.
Worker bees build from waxhoneycomb, which contain larvae. The queen develops in 16 days, the worker bee in 20, and the drone in 24 days after oviposition. Development comes with transformation. Each member of the bee family has different cell sizes. Beekeepers easily recognize by the cells who is developing in them, and can destroy extra drones or queens while still in the larval state.
The need for drones appears before swarming. Swarming is a creation new family. After the young queen emerges, the old queen, along with some of the worker bees, leaves the hive. The emerging swarm first settles not far from its native hive, and over a period of time it can be removed and transferred to a new hive. If the beekeeper does not have time to remove the swarm, he may lose this family forever, as the bees will fly away to a new place. The drones and some worker bees remain. After the old queen has left the hive, one of the drones mates in the air with the young queen and dies; the worker bees will not allow the rest of the drones into the hive, and they will die of hunger. The fertilized young queen returns to the hive and begins to lay eggs. Swarming can occur several times a year.
Bees overwinter in the hive, tightly huddled in a ball and maintaining a temperature of up to +15 ° C. The high metabolism required to maintain such heat provides a supply of honey, which the beekeeper leaves for the bee colony for the winter.
In spring, summer and autumn, bees intensively store honey. At one time, the bee brings 0.06 g of nectar in its crop, collected from numerous flowers. Moreover, the benefits from pollination of flowering plants by bees significantly exceed the benefits from the honey produced. Bees have special adaptations to collect nectar and pollen. On the hind legs there is a special “basket” in which pollen is collected. The bee collects nectar with the help of its proboscis, and it ends up in the goiter. In the hive, the bees process the nectar into honey, part of which is used for food, and part of which is sealed in honeycombs and left for the winter. Honeycomb (Fig. 76) is an amazing engineering structure consisting of hexagonal cells arranged in two layers, with entrances facing in opposite directions. They are built from wax produced from honey. For 1 kg of wax, up to 10 kg of honey is required.
Bees convey information about the location of the source of nectar through a dance in which each movement has its own meaning. With the help of dance, the worker bee reports the direction of flight, distance to an object, etc. In addition to dance, bees recognize the smell of flowers from which pollen and nectar were collected.
With age, the worker bee changes its “profession”: it alternately performs the functions of a cleaner, a nurse of older larvae, a nurse of the queen and young larvae, a food receiver, a cleaner of other bees, a honeycomb builder, a watchman, and a nectar collector. The activity of bees is innate or instinctive. Instinct is a consistent chain of innate responses to various stimuli.
Honey, bee glue, propolis, bee venom and other products of the life of the bee colony have great importance for a person.
Ants are familiar to every person. Body dimensions - from 0.8 to 30 mm. Color ranges from light yellow to black. Ants' vision is poorly developed, but their sense of smell, taste and touch are good. Most species of ants have a developed sting and poisonous glands that secrete formic acid. Distributed everywhere except Antarctica and Far North. Their communities are more complex than those of bees; families number up to 500-800 thousand and even up to 1 million individuals in an anthill.
About 10 thousand species of ants are known.
An ant family consists of males, who appear during the mating period, and females, most of whom are workers, and one or more main females lay eggs. Worker ants perform various functions during their life: food gatherers, soldiers, keepers of liquid food.
Once or twice a year, many winged individuals appear in the ant nest. These are the founders of new colonies - young males and females (Fig. 77 B). In warm, windless weather they go on mating flights. After fertilization, the males die, and the females, falling to the ground, bite off their wings and look for a suitable place for a nest. Females of some species may not feed for a year, while performing all the work of constructing a nest, laying eggs and caring for the young. After the first workers appear, the female only lays eggs. Sometimes this happens for up to 20 years in a row. And during all this time, the female no longer mates. During summer, most of the young females and males die, as they are easy prey for birds and other animals.
Most of the anthill is hidden from the eyes of those who like to crawl with ants. Cleanliness and order are maintained in its underground part. Ants spend the winter there, lay eggs there, feed larvae, and hide pupae and aphids from frost. There are many different insects and other species of ants in the anthill.
The ants not only do not chase them all away, but also feed them. True, this is not done without benefit, since these “freeloaders” secrete special substances that the ants themselves happily eat. They get so used to their “tenants” that when they move, they take them with them.
Ants feed on a variety of foods: live invertebrates, their corpses or flower nectar, mushrooms or plant seeds, secretions of aphids or scale insects. Food is obtained in the soil, grass, trees and shrubs.
The ant family destroys many pests and curbs the growth of their numbers. For this purpose, one anthill is enough for 0.5-1 hectares of forest.
In nature, the importance of ants is enormous. Species whose representatives build anthills, like earthworms, serve as soil formers. Ants are excellent at fighting plant pests, spreading seeds and spreading plants of some species. However, there are ants that cause harm to housing and human health, gardens and vegetable gardens. Ants living in houses spoil food supplies and spread some diseases. Ants living in gardens carry aphids, which damages the plantings.
The highly developed, powerful jaws of Amazon ants do not allow them to build a nest and care for the larvae. In order not to die, they attack other people's anthills, capture the pupae and bring them to themselves. The worker ants who came out do all the work for the Amazons. necessary work. Ants feeding aphids protect them from lacewings, ladybugs, ticks, ants of other species. For aphids, they often build shelters from earth and dust, carefully guard the entrances and exits from them, and in case of danger they run away, carrying away the aphids.
Independent work
Answer the questions
1.Why are bees and ants called social insects?
2.What features of the life of Hymenoptera are not characteristic of other orders of insects?
4.What is honey made from?
5. How do bees find out the way to places with an abundance of flowering honey plants?
6.Tell me about the significance of the activities of ants.
Order Hymenoptera
Order Hymenoptera - bees, ants, riders. ClassInsects. LessonsBiology
SquadHymenoptera (riders)
Bee, uterus, drone
How to determine whether there is a queen or not (without opening the hive)
TypeArthropods. Class Insects. Order Hymenoptera. genus Ants
Resources
Biology. Animals. 7th grade textbook for general education. institutions / V.V. Latyushin, V.A. Shapkin.
Active formsAndbiology teaching methods: Animals. Kp. for the teacher: From work experience, -M.:, Education. Molis S. S.. Molis S. A
Work program in biology 7th grade for teaching materials V.V. Latyushina, V.A. Shapkina (M.: Bustard).
V.V. Latyushin, E. A. Lamekhova. Biology. 7th grade. Workbook to the textbook V.V. Latyushina, V.A. Shapkina “Biology. Animals. 7th grade". - M.: Bustard.
Zakharova N. Yu. Tests and tests in biology: to the textbook by V. V. Latyushin and V. A. Shapkin “Biology. Animals. 7th grade” / N. Yu. Zakharova. 2nd ed. - M.: Publishing house "Exam"
Presentation hosting
Insects can be found everywhere - in the urban concrete jungle, in the meadow, in the forest, tundra, desert, and even where there is eternal snow and cold. Sometimes we don't notice how beautiful the world. The globe is home to millions of different living organisms. In this article we will look in detail at what a hymenoptera insect is. Let's look at all the subspecies and their features.
general information
Hymenoptera insects include wasps, bees, bumblebees, ants and others. Few people know that they all live in separate communities, where there is only one main insect. Surprisingly, all their responsibilities are distributed evenly. In each group, a specific insect is responsible for one action. It is believed that this particular category of insects lives in absolutely all corners of the planet.
The species of Hymenoptera insects differ quite greatly from each other. There are only two varieties - Sessile-bellied and Stalk-bellied. The first includes more primitive insects that feed on organic matter.
Features of reproduction
The insect order Hymenoptera is distinguished by a kind of concept of sex determination. Termites, for example, which are a different species, do not have this feature. In the Hymenoptera family, as a rule, there is only one queen. In the first half of her life, she makes only one mating flight, storing seminal fluid for the entire period of her life, which is about 10 years.
The female uses the collected seminal fluid regularly to fertilize the eggs, which move along her reproductive tract. It is worth noting that not all eggs undergo fertilization. They can also have a single or double set of chromosomes.
Hymenoptera insects have no father. All members of the same family have the same set of chromosomes obtained from the female. Only the uterus itself has a pair of them.
Structural features
As we said earlier, Hymenoptera have two pairs of wings. As a rule, the front ones are longer than the rear ones. Antennae are located on the head of a hymenoptera insect. Each subspecies has its own structural feature. Their number ranges from 2 to 70. There are also eyes on the head, which have a rather complex structure. Surprisingly, some ants see absolutely nothing. They find their way to their anthill thanks to the scent of pheromones they leave behind.
An ant is a small hymenopteran insect. The number of their species is more than 8 thousand. It is believed that ants are most similar to humans.
Ants never eat what they find. They deliver food to the anthill. Those individuals that do not bring anything are killed by insects. Ants regularly stock up on food for the winter. During the day they take it outside to dry, and at night they bring it back. It is believed that ants anticipate the weather, since they never dry out preparations before it rains.
Few people know, but American scientists found the oldest representative on one of the beaches. The ant's body was located in amber. According to experts, the age of the find is about 130 million years. Surprisingly, ants are the only living organisms, other than humans, that raise pets, namely aphids.
It is believed that ants have the most big brain on the ground in relation to your body. Another interesting fact- this is a lack of sleep. Surprisingly, the hymenoptera insect of the order Antidae does not feel the need for this.
Few people know, but worker ants live up to 3 years, but females live up to 20. It is also known that they are able to lift a load that is 100 times their weight. When an ant dies from poisoning, it always falls exclusively on its right side.
bumblebees
Bumblebees are also hymenopteran insects. Representatives of this subspecies are distinguished by thick hair on the body, which is brightly colored. Bumblebees are divided into three categories: queen, workers and drones. It is worth noting that the latter do not have the ability to sting. Unlike wasps, bumblebees use their sting only for self-defense.
The reaction of the human body depends only on individual characteristics. Most often it does not pose a danger. An allergic reaction to a bumblebee sting is quite rare. Most often, only 1% of humanity is affected by it, and, as a rule, this occurs with a repeated bite.
It is known that, unlike other hymenoptera, bumblebees do not fly out in search of food in bad weather. They also have the most favorite plants. Bumblebees can pollinate hard-to-reach flower bowls that wasps cannot reach.
Unlike other insects, bumblebees have a body temperature 20-30 degrees higher than environment. This is due to the active work of the pectoral muscles.
Are there any benefits from Hymenoptera insects?
Perhaps everyone knows that all living organisms on our planet are interconnected. Each insect brings certain benefits to the globe and man himself. The order Hymenoptera is no exception. For example, ants, as we know, build houses not only on the surface of the ground, but also under it. Thanks to this, the soil becomes looser and filled with more oxygen. Ants also destroy a huge number of pests every year.
Hymenoptera insects - bees, wasps and hornets - are of great benefit. Thanks to their processing products, a huge number of medicines were created. For example, many medications contain honey and propolis.
Interesting fact about the representative of Hymenoptera insects
In the 20th century, a famous scientist conducted a number of interesting studies. It is known that the bumblebee has rather small wings (relative to its body). The scientist applied airplane calculations to the insect. He found out that the bumblebee flies contrary to all the laws of aerodynamics and physics.
Today there is a discussion on this topic a large number of disputes. Many scientists refute the hypothesis and prove that the bumblebee flies for good reason. However, these versions have not yet been fully studied.
Hymenoptera and education
As we found out earlier, hymenoptera insects are of great benefit. The peculiarities of their structure and life activity are taught to 7th grade students at school. The purpose of the lesson is to show how important the order of insects Hymenoptera is. After finishing the lesson, 7th grade should know the structural features of this species and their role for the human body and nature. The teacher’s responsibilities include checking the mastery of the material about Hymenoptera insects after some time.
Ichneumonoids
In some queens, the ovipositor is filled with poison. Thanks to this feature, they destroy agricultural pests. An egg in the body of another insect hatches into a larva. At first, it feeds on the victim’s fat deposits, and when their supply comes to an end, it begins to eat vital organs. By the time the larva begins to create a cocoon for itself, as a rule, the victim dies.
Chalcids
Latin name Hymenoptera
Description
Hymenoptera are among the best flyers among insects and therefore have particularly highly differentiated chest muscles. They are characterized by two pairs of membranous transparent wings with relatively sparse longitudinal and transverse veins. The hind wings are always smaller than the front wings.
The head is very movably articulated with the chest. The eyes are large and multifaceted. Most, in addition, have simple eyes (most often three). Variably arranged antennae are placed on the head. The mouthparts of most species are gnawing, while those of bees are sucking, and well-developed mandibles are retained.
Of particular interest is the structure of the thoracic region and abdomen in the vast majority (stalked). In the thoracic region, the mesothorax reaches its greatest development. The first abdominal segment joins the thoracic region, forming one whole with it. The second abdominal segment, very narrowed, forms a constriction (“waist”) connecting the abdomen to the chest. In some Hymenoptera, this “stalk” is elongated and not only the second, but also the third segment of the abdomen is involved in its formation. The monolithic chest, consisting of tightly connected sclerites, provides a strong support for the strong muscles with which the wings work. The presence of a stalk ensures extreme mobility of the abdomen in relation to the chest. In stalked animals, the abdomen can tuck under the chest. Only representatives of a relatively small suborder of sessile bellies (sawflies) do not have a stalk, although the abdomen is quite movably articulated with the thorax. Females of lower Hymenoptera (sawflies, ichneumonids) have an ovipositor on their abdomen, and higher ones (bees) have a sting homologous to the ovipositor.
The larvae of most hymenoptera are worm-shaped, legless, with a poorly developed head and without eyes, but in sessile-bellied larvae they are caterpillar-shaped, with three pairs of thoracic legs and 6-8 pairs of false abdominal legs.
In Hymenoptera there is a strong development of the suprapharyngeal ganglion, or brain, especially the mushroom bodies. It has been proven that they are associative centers, therefore their development determines the complexity of the behavior of Hymenoptera and the possibility of the formation of conditioned reflexes in them.
Hymenoptera are of great importance in nature and human economy. Hymenoptera are very important as pollinators of entomophilous plants. Pollination of many plants from the families of moths, Lamiaceae, orchids and others is provided by Hymenoptera, and often certain types. Among the Hymenoptera there are many insects that are undoubtedly beneficial to humans, starting with the honey bee and ending with ichneumon wasps, which lay eggs inside the body of various harmful insects. However, many Hymenoptera are harmful insects. These are, for example, sawflies, gall moths, etc.
Order Hymenoptera Classification
The order is divided into two suborders: 1. Sessile bellies (Symphyta); 2. Stalked (Apocrita).
Suborder 1. Sessile bellies (Symphyta).
They are represented by two superfamilies - sawflies and horntails, of which the first is the most numerous and harmful.
Sawflies are large group, consisting of several families. These are usually small Hymenoptera with some primitive organizational features: the absence of a stalk, gnawing mouthparts and richer wing venation than other Hymenoptera. The name “sawflies” comes from the fact that females have a saw-like ovipositor, which they use to saw through plant tissue to lay eggs.
The larvae of true sawflies - false caterpillars that live on plants and eat foliage or needles - have become very similar to butterfly caterpillars. The false caterpillars of true sawflies have from 6 to 8 pairs of prolegs, but they are not equipped with claws, like butterflies. The larvae of many sawflies have well-developed spinning glands. With thin web threads secreted by these glands, they entangle the branches and leaves of trees, for example, the red-headed sawfly (Lyda erythrocephala), which harms coniferous trees. Other sawflies weave cocoons in which the pupa is placed.
The similarity of sawfly caterpillars to butterfly caterpillars cannot be understood as evidence of the phylogenetic proximity of these two groups. It is only the result of parallelism in the development of similar adaptations in connection with the same living conditions.
Among sawflies there are serious forest pests and orchards. In addition to the red-headed sawfly mentioned above, you can specify the pine sawfly - a pest of conifers, the gooseberry sawfly, the cherry sawfly, as well as bread sawflies, the females of which lay eggs in the stems of cereals. Legless larvae of stem sawflies develop in plant stems and eat away at the inside. The larvae of many sawflies have interesting protective device- the ability to spray droplets of hemolymph at an approaching enemy through special pores in the body. It must be assumed that the hemolymph of such sawflies has poisonous properties.
Horntails are one of the largest Hymenoptera. The end of the horntail's abdomen is elongated into a solid appendage. The larvae live in wood, where they make wide passages.
Suborder 2. Stalked (Apocrita). A very extensive suborder, including more than 10 superfamilies. This includes ichneumon wasps, gall moths, ants, wasps, folded winged wasps, bees, etc.
Superfamily of equestrians. This is the name of an extremely interesting and practically very important group of insects, the females of which lay eggs in the eggs, larvae and pupae of various insects. The larvae of ichneumon wasps are legless. They feed on the hemolymph and tissues of the host, as a result of which the insect damaged by the ichneumon ichneumon diver dies. This coincides in time with the pupation of the ichneumon ichneumon larvae. In this case, the ichneumon ichneumon larva bores through the host’s integument and crawls out to pupate. The riders themselves are relatively small insects with long antennae, with wings reminiscent of sawfly wings, but with slightly less developed venation.
Unlike sawflies, the abdomen of most ichneumon is clearly stalked. Females have a well-developed ovipositor. Riders are very beneficial insects that help people fight pests. Such, for example, is Apanteles glomeratus, or the small-bellied cabbage white, a very small ichneumon (only about 3 mm in length) that lays eggs in the caterpillars of the cabbage white. Its larvae feed on the hemolymph and tissues of the caterpillar, and then pierce the integument and pupate, curling silky cocoons. The butterfly caterpillars die. Other parasites infect the caterpillars of a wide variety of pests. Thus, the Apanteles fulvipes parasite infects gypsy moth caterpillars. Very large (up to 35 mm) ephialtes are remarkable. They have a very long ovipositor, significantly exceeding the length of their body, and lay eggs in the larvae of woodcutter beetles, boring through the bark and wood with the ovipositor. In this case, females find larvae using their sense of smell. The parasites of the genus Aphidius lay eggs in aphids. Of great positive importance are ichneumon wasps that lay eggs in ticks that carry diseases.
Close to the real parasites are other beneficial insects from the “thicklegs”, or chalcidids. They are tiny, hymenoptera (the largest are 0.5 to 1 mm long), with very reduced wing venation. Many of the chalcidids lay eggs in the eggs of various insects, mainly cutworm butterflies (cabbage and other cutworms, meadow moth, etc.). Particularly interesting are representatives of the trichogrammid family, in particular Trichogramma (Trichogranima evanescens). Trichogramma lays eggs one at a time in each egg of the host (butterflies) and therefore strikes with one clutch significant amount eggs Telenomus lays eggs in turtle bug eggs.
Riders are used as one of the effective means combat a wide range of harmful insects. Use of biological pest control methods in Lately is increasingly attracting attention and is being successfully used in Russia.
Superfamily gallworm. Systematically, gallworms are close to ichneumonids. However, they are not beneficial, but, on the contrary, harmful insects, although the harm they cause is relatively small. On leaves and stems various plants growths are common different shapes and coloring. These are galls that are the result of an injection by an insect's ovipositor and abnormal growth of leaf tissue due to the activity of larvae developing in it. Galls are formed by various insects: aphids, dipterous insects - gall midges, gallworms. The latter form galls not only on the leaves, but also on the stems and roots. There are especially many different galls found on oak. Everyone knows the spherical “ink nut” galls of the common oak or apple gall moth (Diplolepis folii). Like many other galls on oak leaves, they contain tannins that turn black when in contact with an iron (knife blade). A developing gallworm larva can be found inside the gall. In some gallstones, parthenogenesis and alternation of generations are known.
Ant superfamily. Ants belong to social polymorphic insects with complex behavior. Ants are distinguished by a very pronounced stalk-shaped abdomen, long geniculate antennae and highly developed mandibles, which can act independently of other oral parts and with the mouth closed. This feature is due to the fact that the mandibles are the main working tools and weapons of the ant. Not all ants have a sting, and if they have one, it is short. But the poisonous gland associated with the sting is always highly developed. Its secretion, released when the ant is irritated, has a characteristic odor due to the presence of formic acid in it.
Ants make their nests in a wide variety of ways, most often in the ground or on its surface, in hollows, old stumps, etc. In some cases the nest is very complex system passages and galleries connected with expanded chambers located at different levels.
Ant larvae are white and legless. Pupation occurs in silky cocoons. The so-called “ant eggs”, which are collected for feeding small birds, are nothing more than cocoons with ant pupae.
Polymorphism in ants is very pronounced. Worker ants are always wingless. Males and females are winged, but females break off their wings themselves after fertilization (autotomy). Often, in addition to worker ants, there are also soldiers, distinguished by stronger development of the head and mandibles.
The functions of working ants are very complex and varied: building an anthill and maintaining it in order and cleanliness, caring for larvae and pupae, which the ants drag from one part of the anthill to another several times a day, depending on the weather and time of day, etc. d.
In addition to using aphids for their sweet excrement and other insects that often cohabitate with ants, ants exhibit a phenomenon called “slavery.” Thus, the blood-red ant (Formica sanguinea) raids the anthills of another species - the dark brown ant (F. fusca) and takes pupae to its anthill to replenish the working staff of the colony. Mixed communities are often formed in other ways: for example, a female of one species can end up in the anthill of another species, etc. The most common types of ants in our country are the following.
Redheads forest ants(Formica rufa) are very useful as pest killers and soil looseners. They are subject to protection along with other useful animals. It is their buildings in the form of large ant heaps that we find in the forest. In addition, the above-mentioned dark brown ant (F. fusca) and the blood-red ant (F. sanguinea) are also common here. The largest of the ants of the middle zone, the carpenter ant (Camponotus herculeanus), is also often found. It nests in tree trunks and stumps in forests and parks. The black garden ant (Lasius niger) is ubiquitous. It nests in the ground, in vegetable gardens, in orchards, near the walls of houses, in tree stumps. The garden ant often gets into houses, attacking food, especially sugar. Its nests can most often be found in the ground. Worker ants reach 4-5 mm in length. The house ant (Monomorium pharaonis) is found in houses and warehouses. It differs from the garden ant in its reddish-yellow color and smaller size (length 2 mm). Both types are very harmful.
Superfamily Wasp. The wasps are well known to everyone and are easily distinguishable from other hymenopteran insects. We recognize a characteristic representative of wasps - the common wasp - by its more pronounced, in contrast to bees, stalked abdomen (wasp waist). The body of the wasp is naked or covered with sparse hairs. Many wasps are dark in color with yellow, orange or red stripes and spots. It has the meaning of a warning color. The sting of female and worker wasps is not serrated, and therefore, unlike bees, a wasp can sting the soft skin of mammals and humans many times, since it is easily pulled back.
Among the wasps there are many solitary wasps, making nests in the ground, on slopes, and in the sand. Another group of wasps leads a social lifestyle. They have workers, but they are not as different from females as bees.
The biology of wasps is of great interest. Among wasps, both solitary and social, a wide variety of forms of nesting and feeding of larvae are observed. Some solitary wasps (from the family Eumenidae), having built a burrow in the ground, hang the laid eggs in this burrow, and then drag insect larvae paralyzed by a sting into it. Others, for example, the sand ammophila (Ammophila sabulosa), having built a burrow in the sand, goes in search of food for the future larva. Having found a butterfly caterpillar, Ammophila paralyzes it with successive sting injections into each ganglion and then drags the prey into a burrow, where it then lays an egg, and covers the burrow with sand. There are solitary wasps that do not make burrows, such as the large Scolia wasps. They dig in the ground, look for beetle larvae, paralyze them and lay an egg on the larva. The hatched larva feeds by eating the beetle larva, then it pupates in the ground, surrounding itself with a cocoon.
The most famous and widespread social wasp is the common wasp (Vespula vulgaris), which is black with a yellow pattern. She builds nests in abandoned rodent burrows. The wood wasp (V. silvestris) builds gray globular nests on the branches of trees and shrubs, and the common Saxon wasp (V. sacsonica) hangs globular or pear-shaped nests in attics, under barn roofs and in trees. Everyone knows one of the largest wasps - the hornet (Vespa crabro), whose stings are very painful and sometimes dangerous.
Nests of social wasps are made of paper. Wasps do not have wax-secreting glands. They prepare paper pulp from old wood or bark, scraping it off and processing it with saliva.
Many wasps are undoubtedly useful, since they destroy a significant number of larvae of harmful insects (chafer and other beetles, cutworms, etc.). Wasps visit plants, and, not having a long proboscis, they gnaw out fruits or spoil flowers. The hornet builds a nest from paper pulp, which it prepares from the bark of tree branches. causing them significant harm.
Literature
Malyshey S.I., Formation of Hymenoptera and phases of their evolution, I.-L., 1966; Key to insects of the European part of Russia, vol. 3 - Hymenoptera, part 1-3, L., 1978 -1981.
The honey bee, wild bees, bumblebees, ants, ichneumon wasps, sawflies, horntails are hymenopterans that have two pairs of membranous wings as adults (hence the name of their order). There are also wingless insects that are part of this order, for example worker ants. About 300,000 species of Hymenoptera are known.
Pattern: Hymenoptera - great horntail and birch sawfly
Sawflies
In sawflies, females have an ovipositor that resembles a saw. These insects use it to saw through plant tissue in order to lay eggs in the cuts made. Sawfly larvae are similar to butterfly caterpillars and are called false caterpillars. They are distinguished from caterpillars that have 2-5 pairs of prolegs by the presence of 6-8 pairs of prolegs. Sawfly larvae feed mainly on plant leaves. Some of them are known as harmful pests of trees and shrubs. Thus, larvae of pine sawflies often completely eat up tree needles.
Horntails
Horntails got their name because their females have a long ovipositor, hard as a horn. The female uses it, like a drill, to drill into wood and lays eggs in the holes made. Horntail larvae feed on wood, damaging many trees.
Riders
Pattern: riders - whitefish (left), rissa (right)
Pattern: Stinging Hymenoptera
Stinging Hymenoptera are the well-known wasps, bees, bumblebees and ants. They are called stinging because in females the ovipositor, retracted into the abdomen, has turned into a sting - a weapon of defense and attack. Ants have a very short sting, so they cannot sting. Among bees and wasps, species leading a solitary lifestyle predominate, when each female independently raises her offspring. For others (some bees and some wasps, all bumblebees and all ants), caring for offspring led to the emergence of a social way of life. U social insects in one nest all individuals of one or several generations are united, and different individuals perform different functions. By the way, insects from at least two successive generations live together - maternal and daughter. Most often, the Hymenoptera society is a single family consisting of the offspring of one female.
Picture: forest red ants and anthill
The main feature of the society of stinging hymenoptera is that it consists of such members, each of which cannot exist without the others. Such a society necessarily includes three groups: fertile females(or queens, the so-called queens), performing the functions of reproduction and settlement; males participating only in reproduction - drones; workers, which account for all the work involved in caring for females and males, as well as for the offspring. Workers build and protect nests and provide food to all family members. In social insects, workers are sterile females. In bees and wasps they are winged, in ants they are always wingless.
The role of stinging hymenoptera
The role of stinging hymenoptera is truly enormous. Bees and bumblebees are one of the main pollinators of flowering plants, and wasps and ants are our allies, destroying countless harmful insects to feed their offspring.
In this lesson you will learn about amazing insects, which created huge working communities long before the appearance of man on Earth - the Hymenoptera. You will learn about bees, wasps, ants and their relatives, how their colonies work and what different individuals do in the colonies. Also in the lesson we will talk about how and why wasps make paper, bees make honey, and ants make agriculture and cattle breeding. You will discover the world of sessile-bellied and stalked-bellied Hymenoptera and learn how the sting of a bee differs from the sting of a wasp, and also why ants need formic acid. Who are riders and sawflies? Why is the word “drone” a dirty word? What do bumblebees buzz with? Are ants honey bearers? You will receive comprehensive answers to these and other questions during the lesson.
Lesson topic: “The most abundant species of insect order is Hymenoptera.”
The purpose of the lesson is to give the main characteristics of the order and its two suborders, as well as discuss several characteristic representatives.
When it comes to Hymenoptera, everyone immediately thinks of wasps, bees, and ants. Indeed, people most often encounter stinging hymenoptera. But in fact, this order is very large and includes many other insects that are completely different from wasps, bees and ants. Hymenoptera includes about 150 thousand described species and an unknown number of undescribed species. Hymenoptera are distributed almost everywhere, with the exception of Antarctica. The order includes horntails and sawflies, ichneumon wasps and wasps, ants, bees and bumblebees (Fig. 1-6).
Rice. 1. A real sawfly
Rice. 2. Horntail
Rice. 3. Ammophila wasp
Rice. 4. Braconid Equestrian
Rice. 5. Leaf-cutter ants
Rice. 6. Andrena bee
General characteristics. The development of Hymenoptera, like the development of representatives of the orders considered earlier, proceeds with complete transformation (Fig. 7).
Rice. 7. Complete transformation (ant)
The oral apparatus of Hymenoptera can act as a gnawing or licking device. The lower jaws and lower lip can be closely approximated or even fused, forming a proboscis (Fig. 8).
Rice. 8. Bee mouthparts
In this case, the same insect can have gnawing upper jaws and a proboscis at the same time (Fig. 9).
Rice. 9. Wasp mouthparts
Imagine: two mouthparts for different purposes, together.
Hymenoptera have two pairs of transparent wings, on which there are several large veins (Fig. 10). Small Hymenoptera may have no veins at all.
Rice. 10. Front wing of a honey bee
The front wings are larger than the hind wings and play a leading role in flight. The hind wings are attached to the front wings, and in flight they work together as a single wing.
Among the Hymenoptera there are also wingless forms (Fig. 11).
Rice. 11. German wingless wasp
For example, worker ants (Fig. 12).
Rice. 12. Worker ant
The body length of Hymenoptera ranges from tenths of a millimeter to six centimeters (Fig. 13, 14).
Rice. 13. Trichogramma
Rice. 14. Scolia gigantea
The appearance can be very different. Dangerous stinging hymenoptera are often imitated by other harmless insects. For example, many butterflies, dipterans and even beetles (Fig. 15).
Rice. 15. Glass butterfly
Hymenoptera have antennae, a pair of compound eyes and up to three simple ocelli on their heads.
The breast segments are connected to each other very tightly.
The prothorax is very small.
The mesothorax is the most developed.
The metathorax is weaker (Fig. 16).
Think about it, why is this so?
Rice. 16. Sections of the thorax of Hymenoptera
Among other insects, Hymenoptera have the most developed brain. The brain of a small bee may be larger in volume than that of a huge beetle (Fig. 17).
Rice. 17. Bee brain
It is interesting that inactive males - bees, drones - have a much smaller brain than workers of the same species (Fig. 18).
Rice. 18. Worker bee and drone
Male and female Hymenoptera often differ greatly in appearance, color, size and behavior (Fig. 19).
Rice. 19. Male and female German wasp
Social Hymenoptera, in addition to ordinary females and males, often have underdeveloped females that are not capable of fertilization - these are workers. Hymenoptera workers are always female. Hymenoptera females can lay both fertilized and unfertilized eggs. Moreover, larvae emerge from both of them.
But from unfertilized eggs, only males eventually develop. Hymenoptera larvae can be very different in appearance. Some of them live freely - openly, on leaves, and outwardly resemble butterfly caterpillars (Fig. 20).
Rice. 20. Sawfly larva
Others live inside living or dead plant tissue (Figure 21).
Rice. 21. Horntail larva
The larvae of many species of Hymenoptera live inside other animals (Fig. 22).
Rice. 22. Cocoons of riders
The larvae of social Hymenoptera live inside nests. Before pupation, all Hymenoptera larvae build a cocoon consisting of silk threads (Fig. 23).
Rice. 23. Ant pupa in a cocoon
Rice. 24. Hornet
The behavior of Hymenoptera can be very complex. Outwardly, it can sometimes even resemble conscious activity. Many species of Hymenoptera are domesticated and used for honey production and crop pollination (Fig. 25).
Rice. 25. Apiary
Predatory species of Hymenoptera can effectively regulate the number of herbivorous insects, including pests. Some of these predators are actively used by humans for biological control of pests of agricultural plants (Fig. 26).
Rice. 26. Rider
Hymenoptera are the most important pollinators, without them the life of many would be impossible angiosperms. Ants are effective predators and scavengers. They perform an important sanitary role. Ants can also spread the seeds of many plants.
Humans use honey bees to produce honey, wax and propolis.
Some Hymenoptera can, on the contrary, be dangerous to humans. Take, for example, the same wasps brought to Australia, or killer bees brought to North America(Fig. 27).
Rice. 27. Killer bees
The order Hymenoptera includes two suborders - Sessile-bellied and Stalk-bellied.
These are the most primitive Hymenoptera. The suborder is so called because the abdomen does not form a stalk; it is attached to the chest with its wide base. These insects do not yet have wasp waist. The ovipositor has a normal structure. Sessile-bellied Hymenoptera cannot sting.
Rice. 28. Pine sawfly
Rice. 29. Horntail
Sessile bellies include sawflies and horntails (Fig. 28, 29). Adult sawflies look a little like bees or wasps. This similarity is often caused by mimicry - imitation of poisonous, dangerous stinging Hymenoptera. Sawflies themselves are completely harmless.
Adult insects can be both herbivorous and predatory. Larvae are usually herbivorous. Outwardly, such larvae often resemble caterpillars, which is why they are called false caterpillars (Fig. 30).
Rice. 30. Sawfly larva
Adult horntails are large, bright and beautiful insects. Females are armed with a menacing and impressive-looking ovipositor.
However, these insects are not capable of stinging; they are completely harmless. Females need the ovipositor in order to lay eggs in dead wood, in which the larvae develop. These larvae do not feed on the wood itself, but on the fungus that grows on the wood.
Interestingly, this fungus is introduced by the female when she lays eggs.
In these insects, the first abdominal segment grows tightly to the last thorax segment. The base of the abdomen forms a thin stalk (Fig. 31).
Rice. 31. Stalk-bellied
Why do these insects need a stalk? The stalk provides high mobility of the abdomen. The fact is that the ovipositor in stalked-bellied Hymenoptera is equipped with poisonous glands and can act as a sting.
Rice. 32. Rider
The riders got their name from the characteristic pose in which some of them lay eggs as prey. Such insects seem to ride, for example, on caterpillars.
As we have already said, all stalked-bellied Hymenoptera are capable of stinging. Why are these the ones called stingers? The fact is that in stinging Hymenoptera (Fig. 33-35), the ovipositor has lost its main function; it is impossible to lay eggs through it.
Rice. 33. Scolia
Rice. 34. Ammophila wasp
Rice. 35. Japanese hornets
Rice. 36. Bee sting
Such an ovipositor finally turns into a sting (Fig. 36). It is very short and sharp.
Among the stinging Hymenoptera there are solitary and social, or social insects. The most famous social insects among stinging Hymenoptera are bees, wasps, bumblebees and ants. Their nests sometimes reach a very high degree of complexity. Construction materials for nests, wax secreted by the insects themselves, paper or cardboard, which insects produce from plant debris crushed by their jaws, as well as clay, earth, manure and similar materials can be used (Fig. 37).
Rice. 37. Paper wasps build a nest
Social insects feed larvae throughout their lives, gradually. The food for the larvae can be chewed plant pollen, crushed bodies of other animals, such as wasps, or simply sugary substances (Fig. 38).
Rice. 38. Ants feed larvae
Probably the most famous social insect is the honey bee (Fig. 39). Man has known it since ancient times.
Rice. 39. Honey bee
A bee family can include up to 80 thousand individuals.
The vast majority of these individuals are workers, that is, females incapable of fertilization. However, in some cases, workers may lay unfertilized eggs, which will later hatch into males. In a bee nest there is always one female capable of mating, fertilizing and laying fertilized eggs. Such a female is called a uterus (Fig. 40). Please note that all worker bees are daughters of a single queen.
Rice. 40. Queen bees
Every day in the warm season, the queen can lay up to 2-3 thousand eggs. At the end of summer, in temperate latitudes, males appear in the family - drones (Fig. 41). Naturally, drones do not have a transformed ovipositor - a stinger, and therefore they are completely defenseless.
Rice. 41. Drone
Therefore, short-lived drones do not work, do not obtain food on their own and are not able to protect the family. After mating, such males die.
Representatives of the Ant family, or simply ants, are probably familiar to every person. Their body sizes range from 1 to 30 millimeters. Color ranges from light yellow to black. Ants are distributed everywhere, with the exception of the polar regions (Fig. 42, 43).
Rice. 42. Camponotus, or carpenter ant
Rice. 43. Bulldog Ant
In general, there are a lot of ants in the world. This applies to the number of species and, undoubtedly, to the number of individuals. Most ants have a developed sting and poison glands capable of producing formic acid.
However, in some ants the sting disappears. Such species are capable of spraying formic acid. The ant community is more complex than that of honey bees. The number of individuals in one family can reach 800 thousand or even 1 million.
It is curious that for many species of ants in large anthills there may be not one, but several queens at once.
The majority of anthill individuals are sterile female workers. Sometimes there are several types of workers at once, differing in appearance and in the type of work performed. Workers may be foragers, soldiers, or even living storage tanks for liquid food (Fig. 44).
Rice. 44. Honey Ant
Males are short-lived and die soon after the mating period. Ants can eat different types food: this can be live or dead animals, plant seeds, mushrooms, flower nectar, secretions of aphids, scale insects and other sucking proboscis insects.
Families of some ant species destroy many insects, thereby curbing the overgrowth of insect pests.
The importance of ants in nature is truly enormous. Ants eat the corpses of animals and thus destroy them. They are essential pollinators and seed carriers for many plant species. Ants that build large nests, like earthworms, are soil builders.
Some types of ants harm people. So they can destroy wooden structures. Ants living in human housing spoil food supplies and some household items.
Ants contribute to the favorable reproduction of aphid colonies and thus can harm gardens and vegetable gardens (Fig. 45).
Rice. 45. An ant guards an aphid colony
Riders and their owners
Some parasites do not lay eggs in a host larva if eggs from another parasite have already been laid in it. On the contrary, there are types of wasps whose larvae eat exclusively the larvae of other wasps. Moreover, all this happens inside the host larva (Fig. 46).
Rice. 46. An ichneumon wasp lays larvae in a caterpillar already infected by another ichneumon wasp.
Caring for offspring in Hymenoptera
Most Hymenoptera are characterized by caring for their offspring. Moreover, in some species such care reaches the highest degree of complexity. In the simplest cases, eggs are simply laid in leaves or wood (Fig. 47).
Rice. 47. Gall on an oak leaf
This, for example, is what many gallworms do. Remember, for example, the oak gallworm (Fig. 48).
Rice. 48. Oak gallworm
Rice. 49. Cuckoo Bee
Many Hymenoptera, including solitary ones, build special homes for their larvae - nests. These can be buildings made of earth, clay, leaves, or simply holes in the ground (Fig. 50, 51). Some of these hymenoptera leave a supply of food in the nest: honey, pollen or paralyzed animals.
Rice. 50. Leaf Cutter Bee
Rice. 51. Carpenter Bee
Others bring food gradually, in separate portions. Thus, many wasps bring dead caterpillars, beetles or flies.
Caring for offspring is most complex in social insects. We will talk separately about the structure of their families.
More about the structure of a bee colony
How is it built from the inside? Bee hive? Worker bees build honeycombs from wax, each cell containing one larva.
The development time of different larvae is also different.
The queen develops in 16 days, drones in 24, and worker bees in 20 days after laying eggs.
For representatives of each caste of the bee family, the size of the honeycomb cells differs.
Professional beekeepers can easily recognize by the size of the cell who will emerge from it, and can destroy unwanted drones or queens while they are still in the larval state.
Swarming is the creation of a new bee family (Fig. 52). After the young queen emerges, the old queen, along with some of the worker bees, leaves the hive.
Rice. 52. Swarming
The emerging swarm lands not far from the native hive, and over a period of time it can be removed and transferred to a new hive.
If the beekeeper does not have time to remove such a swarm, the family will fly away in search of a new shelter.
The drones and some worker bees remain in the old hive.
After the old queen leaves him, one of the drones mates with the young queen and dies.
The worker bees will drive the rest of the drones out of the hive, and over time they will also die (Fig. 53).
Rice. 53. Banished Drones
The fertilized young queen begins to lay eggs. Swarming can occur several times a year.
Interestingly, bees spend the winter in the hive in an active state, unlike most other insects.
To do this, they need to maintain relatively high temperature, about +15 degrees.
The bees huddle together in a tight ball and actively work with their wings. The wing muscles heat up when working. For such active work Bees need an intense metabolism. The supply of honey accumulated over the summer is used to maintain this level of metabolism. Bees produce honey from nectar. At one time, a worker bee brings about 0.06 grams of nectar collected from numerous flowers.
To collect nectar and pollen, bees have special devices. On the hind legs of the worker bee there is a special basket, with the help of which pollen is collected.
Nectar is collected in a special extension of the esophagus - the goiter. The winter supply of honey is sealed in the honeycomb. Honeycomb consists of hexagonal wax cells.
The cells are arranged in two layers. Their entrances face opposite directions.
Bees secrete wax (Fig. 54) using special glands.
Rice. 54. Beeswax
Interestingly, bees convey information about the sources of nectar, usually flowers, using special dances. The dance form indicates the direction and distance to the flowers. In addition to the actual dance, bees are also able to recognize the smell of flowers, which serve as a source of food for them.
More about the structure of an ant family
Once or twice a year, a significant event occurs in the life of an anthill: hundreds of winged individuals appear on its surface. These are the founders of new colonies, young males and females.
In warm, calm weather they go on a mating flight.
After fertilization, the males die, and the females, falling to the ground, break off a special vein of their wings and look for a suitable place for the nest.
The first time after the foundation of the nest, the young female does not feed, while laying eggs and independently performing all the work on arranging the nest. As soon as the first workers appear in the nest, they begin to care for the nest, and the female only lays eggs.
Interestingly, such female ants can live up to 20 years, all the while laying fertilized eggs. They mate only once. Most anthills are always located secretly, deep in the soil and wood.
The ants spend the winter there, the queen lays eggs there, the workers feed the larvae, and the ants emerge from the pupae there.
Often, in addition to ants, many other animals live in anthills. Such animals are called myrmecophiles. For example, caterpillars of pigeon beetles, rove beetles and many others are found in anthills.
Why don't ants kill such parasites? The fact is that all these insects are capable of secreting special substances that worker ants really like. Therefore, worker ants do not touch them and even carry them with them when moving.
Bibliography
1. Latyushin V.V., Shapkin V.A. Biology. Animals. 7th grade. - M.: Bustard, 2011.
Homework
1. Give general characteristics representatives of the order Hymenoptera. What animals from this order do you know? How does a person use them?
2. Describe life cycle Hymenoptera.
3. What hymenoptera are found in your region? What suborder do they belong to? Are there any state-protected species among them?
4. Discuss with friends and family the social life and body structure of stinging hymenoptera. What is the significance of these animals in nature and human life?