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Behavior of social insects. Biology at the Lyceum Give the concept of social insects

Insects living large families, are called social. Family members of social insects are divided into two groups: males and females, who perform the function of reproduction, and workers, who do not participate in reproduction, but jointly perform all the work to maintain the life of the family and protect individuals of the first group. Only representatives of two series form families: Hymenoptera and Termites.

The Hymenoptera series unites insects with complete metamorphosis, which have two pairs of transparent wings fused together (Fig. 69). Another feature of Hymenoptera is that males are born only from unfertilized eggs. The Hymenoptera series includes about 90,000 species of insects.

Developed Hymenoptera - stinging insects: wasps, bees, ants. They all take care of their offspring.

Wasps are both social and solitary insects. They feed the larvae with animal food, which they obtain by paralyzing their victims with a stinger. Adult wasps feed on plant nectar or aphid secretions. They build nests from a kind of semi-finished paper: they bite off small fibers of wood with their jaws, moisten them with saliva and grind them.

The life cycle of the forest wasp family, common in the forests of Ukraine, is as follows. In the spring, a female flies out of a storage facility - some crack in the wood. IN convenient location she makes a nest hanging from the ceiling of the vault and consists of several cells. The female lays an egg in each cell, from which a larva emerges. The female feeds the larvae chewed by insects. She brings them food, like a bird feeds its chicks. The larvae pupate and after the pupal stage they turn into workers. Now they make nests themselves and take care of new larvae. In addition, the workers feed the female, whose only duty is to lay eggs. Workers are also females, but they do not participate in the reproductive process. Externally, female workers do not differ from the female queen and after her death they are able to lay eggs themselves. During the summer, the number of individuals in the nest increases, the family increases. At the end of summer, not workers emerge from the eggs, but full-fledged females and males mate. The males then die and the females hide until spring. With the onset of winter, “a real tragedy plays out” in the nest: the old female and the workers kill all the larvae and pupae that have not yet had time to develop, and then they themselves die.

Hornets are large wasps that sting very painfully. They make their nest in tree hollows. How building material for the nest they use not wood, but the bark of the branches of young birch trees. The larvae are fed on insects, including honey bees.

Bees. The honey bee is one of the few insect species that humans have domesticated (Fig. 70). A bee family consists of a queen (queen), workers (underdeveloped females who, unlike wasps, are not capable of reproduction) and male drones. After mating, the drones are not allowed into the hives, so they die or are killed by worker bees. Bee larvae develop in wax cells, from which the bees build special rows - honeycombs.

Did you know that to produce 1 kg of honey, a bee brings 150,000 portions of nectar from 100,000,000 flowers to the hive, covering a distance of up to 300,000 km? This is enough to circle the globe at the equator 5 times.

Young worker bees perform a variety of work: they clean the cells of the honeycombs, feed the larvae, the queen, build the honeycombs, and then begin to collect pollen and nectar from flowers.

Bees move to new places in families, called swarms and consisting of a queen and workers.

Bees are very beneficial insects. Firstly, they provide honey - a tasty and nutritious product. Secondly, wax is obtained from honeycombs, which is used for the manufacture of varnishes and paints, as well as in the electrical industry. Thirdly, these insects produce bee glue, or propolis, which has an antimicrobial effect and promotes wound healing. Propolis contains resinous substances, wax, pollen, etc. Bees use propolis to seal cracks in the walls of hives, and humans use it in medicine. However, the most important thing is that bees pollinate plants.

Bumblebees are, essentially, big bees. They lead a social lifestyle. They make their nests in secluded places. Early spring single females fly low above the ground, looking for a place to found a new family - a crack or some kind of hole in the ground. The bumblebee's nest is spherical and consists of several cells. Larvae develop in one cell, while the others contain honey reserves. The development of larvae lasts 20-30 days. The pupae produce worker specimens that are significantly smaller in size than the queen. After the death of the queen, the workers are able to reproduce.

Bumblebees are one of the most vulnerable groups of insects. In many European countries, there is a large fine for catching just one bumblebee. However, despite conservation measures, many species of these beneficial hairy insects that resemble teddy bears have almost disappeared. Of the 38 species of bumblebees living in our country, 10 species require special protection.

Did you know that in the world of insects there are “cuckoo” bumblebees that lay eggs in the empty cells of the nests of other types of bumblebees? Since all bumblebees are very similar, the nest owners treat the larvae that emerged from other people’s eggs as if they were their own.

Termites relate to insects with incomplete metamorphosis. In terms of their lifestyle and features of their external structure, they are similar to ants; they are often called “white ants”. Termites live in numerous families in soil or wood and almost never appear on the surface. They construct huge cone-shaped buildings, similar to anthills, where millions of individuals live. Termite colonies consist of winged males, a queen (queen) and workers. The largest workers become soldiers, they have strong jaws, so their purpose is to guard the nest. The remaining workers provide food for the soldiers and the queen, who are unable to feed themselves. Only males and queens can fly, but after the mating summer the males die, and the fertilized female loses her wings and begins to lay eggs. On the territory of Ukraine, in the steppe zone, only one species of termite lives - photophobic termites.

Social insects form families consisting of males and females capable of reproducing, and worker individuals who serve them. This distribution of individuals by function is a special phenomenon in the animal world.

Test yourself. 1. Which insects are called solitary and which are called social? 2. What are the distinctive features of Hymenoptera insects? 3. Describe life cycle wood wasp family. 4. How does the life of a bee family differ from the life of a wasp family? 5. How is an ant family formed?

Many species of highly developed insects (termites, bees, ants, wasps) live in complex communities. They have such a well-calibrated organization that sometimes they resemble a “superorganism” that is driven by the queen.

LARGE FAMILIES

In the numerous “states” of insects that form termites, ants, some species of bees and wasps, each member of the community - the queen, workers, soldiers and drones - performs its own, clearly regulated function. This division of labor is the main condition for the existence of the colony. Individual individuals of such a community are so dependent on each other that they can no longer exist independently. For example, worker termites are guarded by well-armed soldiers, who are unable to survive without workers, since they cannot obtain food on their own and depend on the workers to feed them. In turn, workers and soldiers are not able to reproduce. The function of reproducing offspring lies on the uterus , around which the colony is formed. The queen lives inside the nest, she is fed by workers, and soldiers protect her. All the bees of one colony, and there can be about 80,000 of them, are descendants of one queen and older sisters to newborn individuals, therefore they are all genetic twins. have a highly developed social instinct.

FORMATION OF THE COLONY

In autumn, with the onset of cold weather, all individuals of the wasp colony die, with the exception of fertilized queens. Shortly before the nest disappears, several mature pairs appear in the wasp colony, which fly away and mate. The males soon die, and the females, sensing the approach of winter, hide in warm places. In the spring, fertilized queens emerge from their shelters and each of them builds a nest of wood treated with special enzymes, consisting of 10-12 hexagonal cells. Eggs are placed in these cells of the uterus. The queen feeds the larvae with a gruel of semi-digested insects. The larvae grow quickly and soon develop into sterile worker wasps. After the workers are born, the queen no longer engages in any household chores, she only lays eggs, and the workers build new cells, take care of the eggs and raise the larvae. The social system of some species of ants and termites is somewhat more complex. Worker ants are divided into several castes, depending on the work they perform. Some, for example, have the task of spraying enemies formic acid, i.e., to conduct a peculiar “ chemical warfare", and on others - to deliver nectar to the warehouse. Termite larvae are miniature copies of adult individuals. They develop into soldiers, which have powerful jaws or a stinging apparatus that secretes a sticky substance that can become a trap for enemies. Termite workers and soldiers - wingless and blind individuals.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

In most insect species, with the exception of the breeding season, there is no need for communication. In social insects, on the contrary, communication between members of the colony is vital. Some species have developed a perfect information transmission system. Body language is often used for this. For example, honey bees, with the help of a special dance, very accurately inform their fellow bees in the hive about the road to the place where, according to them, the source of nectar is located. Ants use a different method. Having found a significant source of food, they return to the anthill, leaving behind a persistent odorous trail. Other ants, following this path, also leave their odorous marks, which are a guide for the rest of the colony. Pheromones play a very important role in the life of all types of social insects. Hungry larvae secrete a special substance that is a “feed me” signal. The queen secretes her pheromones and thus sends her own signal to the workers, reminding them of their duties. At certain intervals, the workers exchange gland secretions with the queen, and thus a close relationship is maintained between them A community of many insects that has lost a queen is doomed to death: the insects do not know what to do, for example, workers stop working, being left without a queen, they can grow a new one: for this they build special cells and feed the larvae with special food.

Termites

The social structure of termites consists of three types of insects: the queen (queen), soldiers and workers.
Uterus: lives in the center of the colony. It has a large body with hypertrophied ovaries (up to 10 cm long) that constantly produce eggs - many millions of eggs throughout its life. The winged male who fertilized the female dies. The queen lives for about 10 years.
Soldiers: Large and darker than workers, with large heads and extremely strong jaws. They guard and protect the colony from enemies.
Workers: small, soft-bodied insects white. They build a nest and maintain order in it. Unlike other social insects, worker termites come in both sexes.

Ants

Almost all ant species are social insects. They live in anthills.
Uterus: its only task is to take care of procreation and lay eggs.
Workers: wingless sterile males up to 30 mm long. They care for the queen and larvae, build and repair the anthill. If an anthill is attacked by enemies and there is no one to “fight”, then the workers defend the colony.
Soldiers: like workers, wingless and sterile, but somewhat larger, with large heads and powerful jaws. Their task is to protect the anthill from enemies

Bees

Bees live in communities of up to 60,000 insects.
Uterus: the only one in the entire colony. The queen controls the hive and lays eggs. It does not have organs for collecting pollen, so it is fed by workers.
Workers: they collect pollen and nectar from flowers, feed the young, queen, drones and protect the colony. They build honeycombs consisting of regular hexagonal cells, which serve as a storage facility for honey and an incubator for eggs. Working bees communicate information about food-rich places to each other using a special dance, accurately indicating the distance to them and the direction of flight.
Drones: their only purpose is to fertilize the uterus. The drones are fed by worker bees. After mating they die.

Wasps

Some social wasp species live in large colonies. Unlike bees and termites, the nest is used only for one summer. In the fall, all wasps die out. Only fertilized female founders overwinter and build a new nest in the spring. Wasp nests are built from cellulose - pieces of wood mixed with saliva.

Insects living in a single community: ants, wasps, bees and termites have always aroused special interest and surprise among people. This is reflected in numerous myths, legends and traditions. IN ancient greek mythology ants were a symbol of the goddess Demeter. And one of the most ancient images found in Europe was the Queen of the Hive. Social insects play vital role in almost all terrestrial ecosystems. Wasps and most ants act as predators, termites, especially in tropical ecosystems, as the most important destroyers of plant debris, and social bees are pollinators of many wild and cultivated plants and manufacturers of medicinal products.
Hierarchical intrafamily ties and complex structures of interaction between community members still attract close attention from scientists. Humanity has been trying to unravel the mystery of the collective intelligence of animals since ancient times, and judging by the fact that our ancestors used images of insects to image the gods, this suggests that this secret was understood by them and was actively used to control human communities.
What is the essence of this natural phenomenon?! What's going on?

BEES ARE SOCIAL INSECTS. In the world of animals with Nikolai Drozdov. Video (00:04:59)

Nests of social insects: bees, wasps and ants. Video (00:45:14)

Social insects. Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. However, there are also social insects. These include termites, bumblebees, wasps, ants, and bees. The community of these insects is one large extended family. There are separate groups in the family that perform different functions: they collect food, share it with each other, care for the larvae, and guard the nest.

Most of the ants living in the anthill (Fig. 104) are wingless workers - these are sterile females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. Besides them, the queen lives in the anthill. She also doesn't have wings. She breaks them off after the mating flight. She lays eggs all her life, and all the care for the anthill lies with the working ants. They obtain food, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, and defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies.

Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear in the anthill from the pupae and set off on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and establish a new anthill. Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. To do this, ants protect, “graze” these insects feeding on plants, and sometimes build shelters for them.

Rice. 104. Cross section of an anthill: 1 - chambers with eggs; 2 - chambers with larvae: 3 - chambers with pupae

Other types of ants breed mushrooms in underground chambers to feed on them, bringing in crushed plant leaves. There are herbivorous ants. Ants communicate by touching each other with their antennae, legs and heads. In addition, they have a “chemical language” - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. Ants recognize relatives and enemies by smell.

The honey bee is a social insect. A large family of bees numbers up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive (Fig. 105, A). In a hive, most insects are worker bees. These are sterile females in which a modified ovipositor serves as a sting. They clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. They live only one season (about a year). In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays up to 2000 eggs per day. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May - June, a new queen and several dozen males, called drones, appear in the bee colony from the pupae: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is to fertilize the queen. The old female leaves the hive with some of the worker bees - swarming occurs. Beekeepers collect the swarm and place it in a new hive. In the fall, worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.

Rice. 105. Bees: A - bee hive; B - diagram of the “dance” of bees

All care of the hive lies with the worker bees: growing up, each worker bee changes several “professions”. First, they build honeycombs, clean the cells, feed the larvae, take food from arriving bees and distribute it in the hive, ventilate the hive, guard it and, finally, begin to fly out of the hive for nectar. Bees communicate with each other, like ants, through touch and secretions.

However, only bees have a “dance language”. With the help of special body movements and movements, one bee can tell others where nectar-rich bees are located. flowering plants(Fig. 105, B). A scout bee “dances” in the hive on the honeycomb.

The complex behavior of social insects is called instinctive, because instinct is a set of innate forms of behavior, fixed hereditarily and characteristic of a certain species of animal. The behavior of social insects is so complex that it leads many people to believe that they are intelligent. However, these actions of animals are instinctive and unconscious.

Humans have been breeding honey bees for a long time. It is spread all over to the globe. A person receives wax, honey, various medicines(propolis, bee venom, bee jelly).

On the underside of the worker bee's abdomen there are special glands that secrete wax. Bees use it to build honeycombs. On the hind legs of bees there are areas surrounded by long chitinous hairs - baskets. Bees crawl on flowers, and pollen gets on the hairs of their bodies. Then the bee cleans the pollen into the basket using special brushes on its legs. Soon a lump of pollen forms there - pollen, which the bee transfers to the hive. Bee bread - pollen soaked in honey - serves as a reserve of protein food for the bee colony.

Worker bees have a peculiar extension of the esophagus - a honey goiter. From the nectar collected from flowers, which has passed through the honey sac, the main supply of food for the bee colony is formed - honey. The cells are filled with honey and the bees cover them with a thin wax layer. In a year you can get up to 100 kg of honey from one bee colony.

Although people have been raising bees for a long time, collapsible frame hives were invented relatively recently - in 1814. Russian beekeeper P.I. Prokopovich. Before this, in order to extract honey from a bee’s nest, which, as a rule, was located in a hollowed-out tree log, it was necessary to break the honeycomb, that is, to ruin the bee family. The surviving swarm of bees can live independently, without human help. This indicates that bees are not yet fully domesticated.

Silkworm. There are other insects that are beneficial to humans. These are silkworms. This the only insect, not found in nature in the wild (Fig. 106). Its females even “forgot how” to fly. An adult insect is a thick butterfly with whitish wings with a span of up to 6 cm. The caterpillars of this silkworm eat only mulberry or mulberry leaves.

Rice. 106. Stages of development of the silkworm: 1 - female laying eggs; 2 - caterpillar; 3 - cocoon formation; 5 - pupae in a cocoon

Scientists suggest that in the wild, the ancestor of the silkworm lived in the foothills of the Himalayas. Silkworms began to be bred in China around 3000 BC. e. Nowadays, this insect is completely domesticated. Now it is bred in China, Japan, Indochina, Southern Europe, South America, Central Asia and the Caucasus - where the mulberry tree grows. There are several dozen breeds of silkworms, varying in length, strength and color of the silk thread they produce.

Female silkworms lay eggs (each - up to 600 eggs), which are called grena. Caterpillars emerge from them. These caterpillars are kept in special rooms on food shelves and fed with mulberry leaves. During pupation, each caterpillar spins a cocoon for three days from a very thin thread, the length of which reaches 1500 m.

Silk thread is secreted by a special silk gland located on lower lip caterpillars.

Sericulture breeders collect the finished cocoons, treat them with hot steam, and then use special machines to unwind the silk threads. Some of the cocoons are left for breeding butterflies.

Silk is used in light industry to produce fabrics, in medicine (it is used to make threads for stitching wounds) and in aviation.

Insect protection. A person greatly influences environment(plows up virgin steppes, cuts down forests, uses pesticides). Therefore, the numbers of many animal species, including insects, are declining. Some species are on the verge of extinction. Due to this rare species insects are taken under oxpairy. Red Books have been created, which contain information about specially protected rare animals (Fig. 107), the reasons for their plight and protection measures. Among the insects of our country listed in the Red Book, there is the steppe racket - a large steppe grasshopper that lives in the steppes in southern Russia. The distribution area of ​​this grasshopper has decreased due to the plowing of virgin steppes. Of the beetles, several species of large predatory beetles - ground beetles - have found their way onto the pages of the Red Book. In the south Far East The largest beetle in Russia is protected - the relic woodcutter, whose body length reaches 10.8 cm, the length of the larvae up to 17 cm. It was included in the pages of the Red Book in connection with the cutting down of old trees, in the wood of which its larvae develop.

Rice. 107. Rare and protected insects: 1 - steppe racket; 2 - Apollo; 3 - Far Eastern relic woodcutter; 4 - Caucasian ground beetle; 5 - wall bumblebee; 6 - mother of pearl zenobia

Many species of bumblebees are also listed in the Red Book, for example the variable bumblebee and the steppe bumblebee. Among the butterflies listed in the Red Book are Apollo, mpemosina, and mother-of-pearl zenobia. They are protected by the Law “On the Protection of Wildlife”.

The role of insects in natural communities is enormous. Insects are the most important pollinators of flowering plants. They serve as food for various invertebrates (spiders, centipedes), fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and animals, even some insectivorous plants (sundews). Among the insects there are many orderlies who help process minerals organic remains of plants and animals. Soil insects and their larvae increase soil fertility by mixing and fertilizing it with their excrement. The role of insects in the cycle of substances in nature is great.

Exercises based on the material covered

1. What features of behavior and lifestyle are characteristic of the inhabitants of the anthill?
2. Describe the composition of the bee colony and the functions of each group of bees.
3. Why are ants and bees classified as social insects? Explain their meaning in nature and in human life.
4. On the basis of what characteristics are the silkworm classified as domestic animals? What is the value in economic activity does this insect have a person?

In this article we will analyze the behavior of bees and ants, their differences and similarities.

For some reason, the phrase “social insects” makes one think that they belong to society. But, in fact, this name was obtained due to the structure and complexity of its behavior. Which insects belong to this group, and how they differ, will be discussed in this material.

What are social insects?

Even a preschooler does not need an explanation of who insects are. To make it clear who these social insects are, watch the ants. The most common red forest ones or the black ones garden insects. Notice how beautifully and harmoniously they move in their anthill.

• Therefore, we can note the first distinguishing feature of social insects - this presence of families. They do not live alone, but only in large groups. Moreover, each representative has his own role in such a community.
• Polyethism- this is the main feature of social insects. Simply put, this is a division of responsibilities.
• Second distinguishing feature- This presence of castes on sexual and reproductive functions. Social insects may have one queen (that is, monogyny) or several fertile females ( polygyny). But this is reflected in the size of the masonry and size. Even working individuals are smaller in size than such queens.
  • At the head of social insects is queen or queen, on whose shoulders lies the responsibility for reproduction and offspring. The entire family with colonies is built around it.
  • And for protection there are special soldiers! These representatives do not have the ability to reproduce, but they do have weapons. Namely, the strong stings of bees or the powerful jaws of termites and ants.
  • But someone has to feed them too. And this responsibility falls on the shoulders labor force, which also cannot produce its offspring. Incredibly, even working representatives are further divided into subspecies depending on the job.
• That is why these groups of insects are closely related to each other. If at least one puzzle falls out, then another part of the picture is lost. After all, some insects protect, others feed, and still others take care of their offspring.

IMPORTANT: Different subspecies of even the same insect species may differ significantly in some rules.

• Housing- here's another difference. Yes, animals and insects are looking for a warm place to spend the winter. But only social insects build such complex and detailed nests. And how they take care of their masonry!
• Such insects can communicate. No, they don't have their own language. More precisely, it is a little peculiar. They use body language and movements more often.
  • Bees can dance! But this is not just a desire to warm up, this is how they report the location of the nectar.
  • Ants use a sweetish smell that they leave along the necessary path. For example, after an edible find, an ant will leave such a trail to its anthill, informing its relatives about this.
• But the greatest value is the connection between the queen and her subordinates. This is the merit pheromones! Everything in this structure is incredibly subtly thought out. The fact is that this substance is secreted by the larvae. This is how they communicate their hunger. But only the uterus can hear them!
  • And only she informs her workforce that food supplies need to be brought. Why, she gives clear instructions about what food is needed and in what quantity. Without the queen, the rest of the representatives will simply die, because they do not know what to do!
  • But there are also insects that have a chance to raise a new queen. True, this is a very painstaking and labor-intensive process. The new queen requires special growing conditions, that is, it requires special cells. And she is picky about food.

Now we can make a final and already substantiated conclusion about who social insects are.

Public insects - these are those representatives who lead a public or social lifestyle. As can be seen from the information provided above, they surpass the behavior of other insects and even compete well with the higher classes of the animal kingdom. That is, social insects can create societies. Therefore, the science that studies them is sociobiology.

Features of the complex behavior of social insects: description

In such insects, the development of the brain and nervous system. And this naturally affects the behavior of social insects, distinguishing them from similar loners.

• Brain directly depends on the diversity and mobility of the insect. That is, the more active it is, the more developed and larger the brain is. For example, working ants and productive representatives. The latter insects have a smaller brain size.
• Incredibly, social insects can distinguish shapes and colors! For example, Australian ethologist Karl Frisch conducted experiments on bees. As a result, it was found that they sit on bright colors.
• This aspect has not been fully studied, but insects may be far from their nest, but they will still find their way home. An experiment was conducted with bumblebees, which were placed in boxes at different distances from the house; they were necessarily marked with colored paint. By evening, all the insects were in place.
• They're not just remember the way home, but also go out in search of, for example, nectar with a strictly thought-out plan of action. For example, a bee focuses not only on the relief shape and bright color, but also on the quality of smell.

IMPORTANT: To communicate with each other, social insects use a whole chain of stimuli - these are auditory and visual contacts, chemical, vibration and tactile stimuli.

• These insects have memory and can transfer experience. For example, ants live 1.5-2.5 years and for them this is of important value. Remember the cartoon “Luntik”, ants always have a leader or commander!
  • They select those individuals that have good memory and rich experience in order to find a solution in case of incidents. This is exactly what the leader does. They act strictly along the laid out route, but if an obstacle appears on the way, the activist will lead the others behind him, bypassing it.

• Moreover, such insects can even think logically and find solutions from difficult situations. An experiment was conducted (again on ants) when a small dose of radiation (up to 10 R/h) was delivered to their nest. This lasted for 3 years. And to reduce the incoming dose, the ants built a covered road.
• Social insects form and develop faster conditioned reflexes. This is another confirmation of the development of their memory and ability to draw conclusions. They have such a divided and thoughtful work of each representative that it requires certain skills. And this indicates a good ability to learn.
  • They have a goal and are moving towards achieving it! They work so well together that they easily compete even with higher animals. Even a person can develop some skills for himself.
• They have incredible caring for offspring. The queen devotes herself and her entire life to caring for them. And in case of urgent need and threat to her offspring, she will sacrifice herself without hesitation.
  • Even look at the anthill again, they don’t leave their cocoons close to the entrance, but lower them to other floors. If the house is in danger, they will take them out first!

IMPORTANT: Social insects have a chain of complex reflexes that are responsible for their instinct.

• In addition to memory, the ability to remember and think, as well as to draw logical conclusions, among the species of even one family of insects, there are “stupid” and “smart” individuals.
• It is also worth highlighting such a quality of social insects as thriftiness. Like ants and bees, they stock up on food.
• And that's not all, because they are able to share it among themselves. Yes, this is the result organized work in the caste. But it is also a kind of concern for surrounding family members.

Some illustrative examples.

Ants

• They are able to conclude "pact of friendship". Their relationship with aphids is known. The ants protect it and provide some fresh shoots for their food, and also take care of the winter. But in exchange for this they collect their sweet excrement for their food. It is somewhat reminiscent of cattle breeding.
• But there are ants who are engaged agriculture. For example, leaf cutters carry spores of some fungi along with leaf reserves. They plant them in an anthill and then eat them.
• Here are the tropical Amazon ants taken into slavery other insects. More precisely, they steal their eggs or tiny individuals. And from these babies they raise a workforce. Similar behavior is observed in other ant species. By the way, they can also attack neighboring anthills.
• And some species of ants, for example foragers, have pension. Yes, over time they move from active representatives to passive observers. But they pass on the collected traditions and experience to the younger generation. And in the event of devastation, pensioners are able to restore everything again.

Wasps

• Beetle wasps exhibit interesting behavior during the rain. The fact is that their house is covered with aspen paper, through which drops of water pass. Therefore, insects absorb it and then spit it out.
• But vestine wasps can heat your masonry abdominal movements. They begin to dance, as if performing a belly dance. And thus, the temperature can rise by a whole degree.

Termites

• You can call them real architects. Even though their work seems chaotic and uncoordinated, the result will please the eye. After all, their buildings not only have simple form, but can be in the form of arches, canopies or entire corridors. And do not forget that termites are completely blind, so they carry out their projects purely with the help of instincts.
• Some of their species are capable of self-destruction. If a worker is attacked, it can literally explode. In this case, the enemy will be attacked by sticky mucus. It is not dangerous, but is distracting.

Bees

• They surprise not only with their dance, but also with the presence of emotions. Even through dance movements, they are able to accurately indicate where the food supply is. And also show your character.
• And many of their worker representatives die as a result of defending their colony. After all, they leave a sting in the body of the enemy, after which they die along with him.

bumblebees

• Among these representatives there are “cuckoos”. The fact is that these types of insects throw their eggs into another clutch. Of course, they choose other bumblebee families rather than a colony of ants. Cuckoo insects do not have their own workers. Children grow up in a “foster” family, along with other children on an equal basis.

How do social insects differ from solitary insects: comparison, similarities and differences

Based on the above material, one can already draw one precise conclusion - single insects live individually, but social representatives live only in large families. Similar characteristics include the production of food, the need for it, as well as the defense of the territory and their offspring. It should also be noted that other insects also use sound signals or gestures to communicate during the mating season. It’s just that social insects have slightly improved characteristics.

• But none of them can survive on their own. The role of each “member” of the family is so thought out and organized that he acts as the missing puzzle. And without it you won’t get a complete picture. For example, bees build families of up to 60 thousand - 100 thousand individuals.
• And that is why such a large community is able to build big house. For example, some anthills can reach several meters in depth (according to some sources, even up to 10 m). And what kind of termite mounds are found in nature that a single person cannot do? The highest termite mounds reached 9 m.
• These houses increase the safety of not only the adults, but also the babies and clutches. In solitary species such care for the offspring is not observed. For social insects, the future generation, as well as food supplies in general, come first.
• In this huge house, where every road, descent or honeycomb is thought out, and temperature and humidity are also regulated. Again, it's all about maintaining optimal conditions masonry But only social insects can create such a microclimate due to their large numbers.

• Such a family can attack large prey, and this will help make a significant supply of food.
• Coordinated work helps social insects defend themselves from enemies. Single representatives are weaker in this matter.
• Well, the main difference is polymorphism. That is, the presence of a uterus that deals only with offspring. The queen is only engaged in masonry. Although, for example, in some species of termites the uterus is not even able to move independently. This protects her as much as possible from any dangers, ensuring a higher birth rate.

Which insects can and cannot be classified as social?

It is easier to name those representatives that may belong to social insects. All others, if they do not have the above characteristics social life, are classified as single individuals.

• Ants- Almost all of their species belong to social insects. They bring great benefits to the forest, protecting it from enemies. Characterized by large anthills, which consist of above-ground and underground parts
  • In the center there is a wingless queen (she loses her wings after the mating season) and spends her entire life only laying eggs.
  • Working representatives clean the clutch, the queen and bring her food.
  • Soldiers stand out large sizes and powerful jaws, whose task is to protect the colony.
• Bees They have only one queen, which controls them. They do not have soldiers, but they do have drones that fertilize the uterus. After mating they die. All work, including feeding the queen, falls on the shoulders of the workers.
• Wasps They live only one summer. Only fertilized females remain for the winter. The housing is also used only for one year. They build it from wood and their own saliva.
• bumblebees have the same signs of social life. But it is worth highlighting that the sting can be not only in working individuals, but also in the uterus. By the way, it does not have serrations, so insects can use it repeatedly.
• Termites live in termite mounds, and their family can number up to 1 million individuals. The queen of this species can live up to 10 years, and workers are distinguished by the fact that they can be of both sexes. Their main task is order in the “house”.

Some are observed characteristic features social behavior in the following insects:

• earwigs - they are characterized by the female caring for her offspring
• bedbugs that live in large families
• and even in aphids that come into contact with ants
• crickets and Japanese bedbugs bring food for their larvae
• Thrips have the highest social degree of life. They also build families of almost 200 thousand individuals, create trails with a characteristic smell and take care of their clutches

IMPORTANT: Only ants are completely classified as social group. All other insects belong to the class Hymenoptera. Since they are characterized by all transitions from a solitary lifestyle to social behavior.

Video: Social insects: the secret of collective intelligence

1. What behavioral and lifestyle features are typical for the inhabitants of an anthill?
Most of the ants living in the anthill are wingless workers - these are sterile females. Their number sometimes reaches a million. Besides them, the queen lives in the anthill. She also doesn't have wings. She breaks them off after the mating flight. She lays eggs all her life, and all the care for the anthill lies with the working ants. They obtain food, repair and clean the anthill, feed the larvae and the queen, and defend the anthill in case of attack by enemies. Once a year, at the beginning of summer, winged females and males appear in the anthill from the pupae and set off on a mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females shed their wings and establish a new anthill.
Most ants are predators. Some feed on the sweet secretions of aphids. To do this, ants preserve and “graze” these insects that feed on plants, and sometimes build shelters for them. Other types of ants breed mushrooms in underground chambers to feed on them, bringing in crushed plant leaves. There are herbivorous ants. Ants communicate by touching each other's antennae, legs and heads. In addition, they have a “chemical language” - they secrete special substances with which they mark their paths. Ants recognize relatives and enemies by smell.

2. Describe the composition of the bee colony and the functions of each group of bees.
A large family of bees numbers up to 100 thousand individuals that live in a hive. In a hive, most insects are worker bees. These are sterile females in which the modified ovipositor serves as a sting. They clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. They live only one season (about a year). In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays eggs - up to 2000 per day. She lives for about five years. In the spring, in May-June, a new queen and several dozen males, called drones, appear in the bee colony from the pupae: they do not take any part in the work, and their main task is to fertilize the queen. The old female with some of the worker bees leaves the hive - swarming occurs. Beekeepers collect the swarm and place it in a new hive. In the fall, worker bees drive the remaining drones out of the hive and they die.

3. Why are ants and bees classified as social insects? Explain their meaning in nature and in human life.
Most insects lead a solitary lifestyle. Bees and ants organize communities that represent one big family. Within a family there are separate groups that perform different functions.

4. Based on what characteristics are the silkworm classified as domestic animals? What is the importance of this insect in human economic activity?

This is the only fully domesticated insect that is not found in nature in the wild.
Silk secreted by silkworms is used in light industry to produce fabrics, in medicine (it is used to make threads for stitching wounds) and in aviation.