myrmeco-, myrmec-, myrme-, myrmic-, myrmi- +

Feeding mainly or exclusively on ants or termites.

An organism that lives in close association with a species of ants: It is interesting to know that aphids, as myrmecophils, have a symbiotic relationship with ants in that aphids produce honeydew from feeding on the sap of plants, and the ants love the honeydew as a source of food that is rich in sugar.

1. Thriving in association with ants; used with reference to organisms that spend part of their life cycle in ant or termite nests.
2. Having a symbiotic relationship with ants.

An excessive avoidance of ants: Quite often those, who have an abnormal fear of the family of Formicidae, are also phobic about other tiny insects and are afflicted with myrmecophobia.

Some people who have abnormal fears of dirt or contamination may also fear the presence of these tiny social insects near food or in the kitchen, and probably have myrmecophobia.

If they have such a 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 insects or other sources of contamination are present.

A reference to plants that repel ants or termites: Such myrmecophobic vegetation has hairs or glands to fend off or repulse Isoptera, an order of social insects living in groups, to provide protection from damage or harm.

1. A plant that lives in obligatory, mutual relationships with ants.
2. A myrmecophilous plant, or one that benefits from ant inhabitants and has special adaptations for housing them.

A plant that has specialized structures for sheltering ants or termites, or having a mutual interdependence with ants or termites.

A symbiosis between an ant and its host plant.

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.

A reference of plants that provide both food and shelter for ants and termites.

1. Ant lions; family containing about 600 species of generally nocturnal flying, neuropteran insects often with a long abdomen and highly patterned wings.
2. The larval stage of a winged insect which, in a general way, resembles a dragonfly; however, unlike the dragonfly, it is a very weak flyer.

Myrmeleontidae larvae typically lie in wait for their insect prey, some constructing conical pitfall traps (pits in dry sand or dust that trap ants when they fall into the pits).

When an ant-lion is ready to set its "trap", it backs around in a tight circle while tossing out sand.

Eventually, a small pit about an inch deep is formed, having steeply sloping sides. The ant-lion then hides beneath the sand at the bottom of the pit and waits.

It may have to wait a few hours or several days, but eventually an ant is likely to come along and investigate the pit. When this happens, the hidden ant-lion begins to toss sand into the air with its jaws and the ant will tumble into the pit where it is grabbed in the ant-lion's needle like jaws.

These jaws are hollow, like hypodermic needles, and at once a powerful poison is injected into the ant's body. This kills the ant and also slowly digests its body contents which are then siphoned out through the hollow jaws of the ant-lion.

When the body of the ant is sucked dry, t is tossed out of the pit and the ant-lion then settles down to wait for the arrival of another unsuspecting ant.

A genus of ants within the subfamily Myrmicinae.

It is widespread throughout the temperate regions of the Holarctic (habitats found throughout the northern continents of the world as a whole) and high mountains in Southeast Asia.

The genus contains a number of inquiline species (commensal symbionts that live in the dwelling place of another species) or other Myrmica species that manage to invade the nest of their hosts.

1. Like, or pertaining to, ants.
2. Of or belonging to the sub-family Myrmicinae of stinging ants.

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.

An ant of the amber forests that lived in the ancient forests of pine-like trees that, millions of years ago, grew near the Baltic Sea.

This ant is believed to have lived in trees where it was predaceous on insects and was nearly half an inch long.