Articles Containing Germanic Language Text - Wheel, Ant, Elbe, Aesir, Week, Tyr, Hygelac, Crayfish, Brightness, Gepids, Human (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 83. Chapters: Wheel, Ant, Elbe, AEsir, Week, Tyr, Hygelac, Crayfish, Brightness, Gepids, Human, Proto-Germanic language, Phonological history of English, W danaz, White, Wayland the Smith, Prunus spinosa, God, Wudga, Theodiscus, Mare, Ishara, Spade, Scop, Gibuld, Vates, Common Germanic deities, Holtzmann's law, Gaut, Pre-Christian Slavic writing, Hwair, Hrethel, Gondioc, Caistor-by-Norwich astragalus. Excerpt: A phylogeny of the extant ant subfamilies.*Cerapachyinae is paraphyletic Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae ( ) and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than 12,500 out of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies which may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. These larger colonies consist mostly of sterile wingless females forming castes of "workers," "soldiers," or other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens." The colonies are sometimes described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony. Ants have colonised almost every landmass on Earth. The only places lacking indigenous ants are Antarctica and a few remote or inhospitable islands. Ants thrive in most ecosystems, and may form 15-25% of the terrestrial animal biomass. Their success in so..