Eciton hamatum

Eciton hamatum (Fabricius, 1782 ) is a kind of predatory army ants of the New World.

System

Eciton hamatum belongs to the subfamily of Ecitoninae and the genus Eciton. Among the best known representatives include the type Eciton burchelli.

Dissemination

Eciton hamatum comes in tropical Central America and South America from Mexico to central Brazil and Bolivia before. Local subspecies occur in Guyana. Particularly common Eciton hamatum can be observed in the rainforests of the National Parks of Costa Rica. The ant is most commonly found in the forests of the lowlands and is rare in mountain regions and dry zones. You meet them on altitude levels 40-900 meters, predominantly in layers of 235 meters.

Description

The soldiers of Eciton hamatum show unlike Eciton burchelli on the back of the head thorn-like formations that protects the sensitive head part in the fight against other ant species.

Way of life

Ants such as Eciton hamatum form the bulk of the biomass in the tropical rain forests. Unlike Eciton burchelli their raids are less visible because the workers of Eciton hamatum mostly on the leaves of trees to hunt. To their preferred prey are larvae of other social and state-forming insects such as bees, wasps and ants of the genus Camponotus and Dolichoderus. Eciton hamatum is different than the generalist species E. burchelli high especially in its food procurement and hunts in long columns and not in wide fronts as Eciton burchelli. Your raids concentrate on specific areas and isolated areas. Your usually in the early morning hours beginning at first light forays form certain patterns and depend on the food supply. Through selective attacks a massaging number of workers at one point may be concentrated within a short time. From a main running track branch several side streets, which is referred to as the column case. Within one day routes from ten to several hundred meters are reached. Due to their high running speed only a few prey can escape. It has been observed that E. hamatum can capture up to 90,000 insect within a day. In their ecological function and their systematic behavior of the prey species of ant ensures that no Klimaxpopulationen other insects can occur in the delicate balance of the rainforest.