Chapter 18 The Harvesting Ants Summary

This chapter continues the natural history approach started in Chapter 16, and deals exclusively with harvesting ants; ants "...that regularly use seeds as part of their diet" (p. 609). The history of the study of harvesting ants is briefly recapitulated. These ants, in particular, offer aspects of study, which are easily accessible, and the scientific study of their grain-destroying foraging behavior has gone on for hundreds of years. The earliest work on ants in the modern era, J. Wilde's De Formica, Liber Unus, published 1615, deals with these ants. Biblical and earlier references to ants are, most likely, references to harvesting ants. The distribution of harvesting ants is described. A chart summarizes worldwide distribution by species, including citations and comments.

The life history of Messor pergandei, an extreme granivore, is presented in some detail, including nest structure. This species is...