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Superorganisms: How ant societies are organized

Time
18:00 - 24:00 o'clock
Organizer
Max-Planck-Institut für chemische Ökologie
Place
Max-Planck-Institut für chemische Ökologie, Foyer
Adresse
Hans-Knöll-Straße 8

Ants are social insects that live in colonies of between a dozen individuals and millions of workers. Discover the tiny world and the variety of shapes, forms and diets of these fascinating insects!

Most ant species have sterile workers and a reproductive queen. However, some species have a very special way of life. Here you can discover different ant species: for example, a polymorphic species from Europe with workers of different sizes; or ants that eat seeds and build grain silos. You may also be interested in a species from Asia that we are researching: it has no queen and all workers are clones and genetically identical. Ants of this species raid the nests of other ants to feed themselves. With more than 14,000 known ant species on our planet, anything is possible!

 
Bild
Messor barbarus und Ooceraea biroi
Eine Königin der Ernteameisen-Art Messor barbarus auf der Suche nach einem neuen Nest in freier Wildbahn (oben). Klonale Räuberameisen (Ooceraea biroi) bei der Nahrungssuche im Labor mit Farbpunkten zur individuellen Identifizierung (unten).
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