Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants.
Ants inhabit diverse terrestrial biomes from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic tundra. One factor contributing to the ants' successful colonization of diverse geographical regions is their ability to manipulate objects when excavating nests, capturing, transporting and rendering prey or grooming,...
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2007
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ftusouthflorida:oai:digitalcommons.usf.edu:fac_publications-1995 2023-07-30T04:01:45+02:00 Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. Cassill, Deby L. Greco, Anthony Silwal, Rajesh Wang, Xuefeng 2007-01-01T08:00:00Z https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fac_publications/995 https://login.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login?url=http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00114-006-0194-y.pdf en_US eng Digital Commons @ University of South Florida https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fac_publications/995 https://login.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login?url=http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00114-006-0194-y.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications Functional morphology Motor skills Forelimbs Tarsi Digits Biology Life Sciences text 2007 ftusouthflorida 2023-07-13T20:57:46Z Ants inhabit diverse terrestrial biomes from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic tundra. One factor contributing to the ants' successful colonization of diverse geographical regions is their ability to manipulate objects when excavating nests, capturing, transporting and rendering prey or grooming, feeding and transporting helpless brood. This paper is the first to report the form and function of opposable spines on the foretarsi of queens and workers used during fine motor and gross motor object manipulation in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. In conjunction with their mandibles, queens and workers used their foretarsi to grasp and rotate eggs, push or pull thread-like objects out of their way or push excavated soil pellets behind them for disposal by other workers. Opposable spines were found on the foretarsi of workers from seven of eight other ant species suggesting that they might be a common feature in the Formicidae. Text Arctic Tundra University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital USFSP Arctic |
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University of South Florida St. Petersburg: Digital USFSP |
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ftusouthflorida |
language |
English |
topic |
Functional morphology Motor skills Forelimbs Tarsi Digits Biology Life Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Functional morphology Motor skills Forelimbs Tarsi Digits Biology Life Sciences Cassill, Deby L. Greco, Anthony Silwal, Rajesh Wang, Xuefeng Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
topic_facet |
Functional morphology Motor skills Forelimbs Tarsi Digits Biology Life Sciences |
description |
Ants inhabit diverse terrestrial biomes from the Sahara Desert to the Arctic tundra. One factor contributing to the ants' successful colonization of diverse geographical regions is their ability to manipulate objects when excavating nests, capturing, transporting and rendering prey or grooming, feeding and transporting helpless brood. This paper is the first to report the form and function of opposable spines on the foretarsi of queens and workers used during fine motor and gross motor object manipulation in the fire ant, Solenopsis invicta. In conjunction with their mandibles, queens and workers used their foretarsi to grasp and rotate eggs, push or pull thread-like objects out of their way or push excavated soil pellets behind them for disposal by other workers. Opposable spines were found on the foretarsi of workers from seven of eight other ant species suggesting that they might be a common feature in the Formicidae. |
format |
Text |
author |
Cassill, Deby L. Greco, Anthony Silwal, Rajesh Wang, Xuefeng |
author_facet |
Cassill, Deby L. Greco, Anthony Silwal, Rajesh Wang, Xuefeng |
author_sort |
Cassill, Deby L. |
title |
Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
title_short |
Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
title_full |
Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
title_fullStr |
Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
title_sort |
opposable spines facilitate fine and gross object manipulation in fire ants. |
publisher |
Digital Commons @ University of South Florida |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fac_publications/995 https://login.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login?url=http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00114-006-0194-y.pdf |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Tundra |
op_source |
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/fac_publications/995 https://login.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/login?url=http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs00114-006-0194-y.pdf |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
_version_ |
1772812513638875136 |