myrmeco-, myrmec-, myrme-, myrmic-, myrmi-
(Greek: ant, ants)
An outwardly "purposeful" category of dispersal is accomplished by plants through myrmecochory, the employment of attractive seed appendages and chemicals that induce the ants to transport the seeds without harming the embryo or endosperm. Myrmecochory is an almost world wide phenomenon.
Some specialized plant-dwelling ants protect their myrmecophyte hosts not only from herbivores but also from other plants that crowd in too closely. Some worker ants attack and destroy any foreign plant that sprouts within 40 centimeters of the trunk of the acacia in which they live, and they cut back vines and foliage of neighboring trees that touch the acacia crown. This pruning action has the effect of promoting the growth and survival of the host plant, but it also removes bridges over which alien ants can attack the resident colony.
—The Ants by Bert Holldober and Edward O. Wilson;
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press;
1990; pages 549 and 553.
myrmecophil, myrmecophile, myrmecophily
1. Thriving in association with ants; used of organisms that spend part of their life cycle in ant or termite nests.
2. Pollinated by ants or termites.
3. Comprising both pollination and myrmecophytism and all the techniques plants use to attract and reward ants.
myrmecophilism
myrmecophobia, myrmecophobe, myrmecophoby
1. An excessive fear or hatred of ants. Quite often, those who have an abnormal fear of ants are also phobic about other tiny insects. Some people who have abnormal fears of dirt or contamination may also fear the presence of ants near food or in the kitchen. If they have obsessive-compulsive disorder, they may continually wash kitchen counters and the inside of their refrigerators as a ritual to give themselves a sense of assurance that no ants or other sources of contamination are present.
2. In biology, a reference to organisms that repel ants or termites.
myrmecophobia, myrmecophobic, myrmecophobe, myrmecophoby
1. A reference to organisms that repel ants or termites.
2. Certain plants equipped with glands, hairs, etc. that check ants.
myrmecophyte
myrmecophyte, myrmecophytism
A plant that has specialized structures for sheltering ants or termites, or having a mutual interdependence with ants or termites.
myrmecosymbiosis, myrmecosymbiotic
A symbiosis between an ant and its host plant.
myrmecotrophic, myrmecotrophy
1. The transport of soil, litter, and other nutrient-bearing materials by ants that results in the feeding of the plant hosts.
2. Pertaining to plants and animals that provide food for ants.
myrmecoxenous, myrmecoxeny
A reference of plants that provide both food and shelter for ants and termites.
Myrmeleontidae
Ant lions; family containing about 600 species of generally nocturnal flying, neuropteran insects often with a long abdomen and highly patterned wings; larvae typically lie in wait for prey insects, some constructing conical pitfall traps.
Myrmica
myrmicine: stinging ants
Of or belonging to the sub-family Myrmicinae of stinging ants.
Pogonomyrmex
A genus of ants that attack humans and small animals; also known as, "harvester ants" (
bearded ants).
A genus of harvester ants that are economically important in agricultural areas of the United States and Mexico because of the numerous low, bare mounds they construct, which reduce vegetation for grazing animals.
They have a painful bite which can be seriously poisonous when they attack animals or humans in large numbers. Some species serve as intermediate hosts of helminths. It is believed that various pathogens may also be passively carried by these ants.
Prionomyrmex Longiceps
Pristomyrmex
A cross reference of other word family units that are related directly, or indirectly, with: "insects, bugs, worms; invertebrates":
aphidi-;
api-;
ascari-;
culci-;
Dung Beetle Survival;
Dung Beetles Important;
Eating Worms;
entomo-;
formic-;
Guinea worms;
helmintho-;
insecto-;
Insects: Importance;
isopter-;
larvi-;
lepidopter-;
meliss-;
mosquito;
Mosquito, other Languages;
Mosquitoes, Pt. 1;
Mosquitoes, Pt. 2;
scarab;
scoleco-;
sphec-;
taeni-;
termit-;
vermo-.
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