Josh is in the lab today and he brought with him some awesome ants: Gigantiops
destructor. And we've been filming them doing things like jumping off of
platforms, jumping onto our finger, and things like that because Josh actually
studies jumping behaviors and other behaviors and ants. But, Josh, what would
you say your research expertise is in? Well, I primarily study mechanics of
movements in ants. Specifically the mandible strikes of
trap-jaw ants. But I also work on other projects and different species of ants.
Like studying the mechanics of jumping in Gigantiops destructor. Yeah, so we actually
filmed all this stuff for a video that will summarize his research results on
the mechanics of their jumps. But before we publish that, we wanted to actually
put out a video that sort of highlights the natural history and the behaviors of
this incredible species. Gigantiops destructor might be the best species
name ever. A hundred years ago biologist William Morton Wheeler wrote the name
"conjures up visions of a huge-eyed insatiable monster, a kind of Cyclopean
insect-jaguar. Gigantiops refers to the ants' giant eyes, but destructor, the
specific name, was given to this ant in 1804 by a zoologist who likely never saw
it alive. If you came across Gigantiops in and around the Amazon rainforest this
is what you might see. A lone worker wandering through the leaf litter
jumping between gaps in the foliage. The temperament of these ants is about as
opposite of destructor as possible. They're so curious and non-aggressive
that if you wave your finger in front of them they jump up on to it and then just
walk around and hang out on your hand.
they put their jumping ability and huge eyes to use while navigating the chaotic
forest floor. Unlike a lot of other ants, they don't follow pheromone trails or
cooperate to transport food. Each worker goes out of the nest on its own and
when it comes across the gap in the undergrowth they size up the distance
and make make the leap. In a recent study, researchers found that Gigantiops is
able to navigate mazes using only visual cues. In the experiment the ants learned
that a wide vertical line meant that should turn left and a thin vertical
line was a right-hand turn. After given a piece of food the ants were challenged
with the maze marked with these visual cues in a random order.
The researchers watched as the ants use the shapes to navigate the maze and
choose the right path back to their nest.
Beyond visual navigation, jumping is their other incredible talent.
Gigantiops is one of only a few ants that uses its legs to jump forward. Other
ants that jump with their legs include the Australian Jack Jumpers of the genus
Myrmecia and ants of the genus Harpegnathos. Even
some species of trap-jaw ants who are famous for using their spring-loaded
jaws to jump backwards, are also known to use their legs jump forward across gaps
in the understory. While other jumping ants have sister species in their same
genus Gigantiops sits alone on its own branch of the evolutionary tree. There
are no other Gigantiops species. It's one incredible species living among
multitudes in the Amazon rainforest and it's one small reason to admire, respect,
and protect our natural world. So that's a little bit about the biology of these
jumping ants the next video that we'll publish about them will be a summary of
your research results. Do you want to give a preview of those? No. No I don't
want to give anything away right now. No spoilers. You have to watch the next video to find out.
Ok, well, stay tuned the next one will be Josh's research results which are pretty
interesting. Thanks for watching this video!