They take in oxygen through tiny holes all over the body called spiracles. They emit carbon dioxide through these same holes. The heart is a long tube that pumps colorless blood from the head throughout the body and then back up to the head again. The nervous system of ants consists of a long nerve cord that also runs from head to rear with branches leading to the parts of the body, kind of like a human spinal cord.
An ant has a petiole connecting the thorax to the abdomen. The petiole can be one or two segments. Unlike humans, ants have their skeleton on the outside. Owing to this structural benefit, their muscles do not need to support their skeleton. Also in humans, the muscles are not directly attached to the bones. They are connected with the ligaments and the cartilages. But in insects, the muscles are attached to the external skeleton. The overall design of the exoskeleton helps in the swift movement of the appendages.
The body muscles and the jointed appendages work in tandem that gives them an upper hand in faster movement. So alongside providing the ants with a protective covering, the exoskeleton also promotes better limb movement. The healing time for exoskeletons can be long. So in case of a heavy injury, the ant can die very easily. A larger structure always has got an upper hand in terms of survival.
If the size of the ants increases by many folds, the exoskeleton will become so heavy that the animal will be barely able to move. This is one of the reasons why higher animals do not have an exoskeleton. So even though it plays an important role in protection from predators and natural calamities, it does put an extra weight onto the ant bodies which further limits them in their size. At the end of each leg is a hooked claw that is used to climb and hang on to things.
Some ants have a sting, which is used to inject venom into enemies. Others have a tiny opening at the tip of their gaster through which they spray acid to stun prey or defend themselves. In between the mesosoma and the gaster is the petiole and in some ants, the post-petiole. This is one body part that distinguishes ants from other insects. The petiole and post-petiole, when present provides a flexible junction, allowing the ant to bend its gaster forward to sting or spray.
Finally, the entire body of an ant is covered by a hard exoskeleton that provides support, protection, and a barrier against water loss. Like you and me, ants use their heads to sense information about the world around them.
This is very important for their survival and the life of the colony. Each antenna is bent in the middle like the elbow of a human arm — this is another unique feature of ants. Ants that use vision to hunt for prey have big compound eyes. Other ants that live in dark places have reduced eyes and may even be blind.
Some ants also have three simple eyes called ocelli that detect light. Mandibles can also be used for biting, crushing, cutting, digging, fighting, and hunting. Hidden by the mandibles is the mouth, which ants use not only to eat, but also to clean themselves and nestmates. Ant heads , especially the eyes and mandibles, come in all shapes and sizes and provide clues to the kinds of food ants eat and the different lifestyles they live.
Worker ants perform all sorts of jobs for their colony. In most species, all workers are roughly the same size. However, some ants have different sizes of workers that serve different roles. Minor workers are smaller and perform general labor such as taking care of the young, building and cleaning the nest, and gathering food. Major workers are larger and specialized to perform certain tasks.
For example, major workers called soldiers have large heads and powerful mandibles used to guard and defend the colony. Their three body parts four or five when counting the petiolus and postpetiolus together with their six legs forms a clear and symbolic icon of the insect world.
The legs are all anchored in the thorax and consists of a hip, a femur thigh bone , tibia shinbone and segments of the foot. At the end of it is a spur, servering as a great tool when cleaning the antennas. When studying ants you will quickly see a display of this cleaning ritual. They are much like cats in that sense, constantly grooming themselves. Ants do not have a heart like we do, or other mammals for that matter. Their blood is not red either, but rather uncoloured and transparent.
The stomach is located in the abdomen with most of the other large organs. Instead of lungs, the ants have small openings in their exoskeletons that circulates oxygen through the body. This means that the ants do not draw breaths, but rather let the surrounding oxygen pass through them. Myrors anatomi — Wikipedia Swedish. Naturhistoriska riksmuseet — Insekters sinnen Swedish.
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