Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 26, 2009 12:03:44 GMT 1
Hahahaa could you imagine a ant eater trying to eat them.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 26, 2009 21:52:24 GMT 1
Nope, because ant eaters prefer termites.
|
|
|
Post by internecivus on May 27, 2009 0:51:47 GMT 1
I have another thought. Though I don't know the exact date (I think there is a thread about it here somewhere), ants evolved from wasps. So that ants at that time may be shrinking from the size of prehistoric wasps which may have been a lot bigger.
|
|
|
Post by phasmid on May 27, 2009 13:28:23 GMT 1
I agree with the environmental changes.
If these ants behaved like the modern army ants (judging by queen size) then they would have required constant conditions and habitat and absolutely huge territory per colony. I should imagine basic geological changes would pose a huge threat to such a large species by changing weather patterns and food sources. A natural disaster could also have easily forced them into extinction. If they lived in Europe then the change in the weather could finish them (after all, its not exactly tropical in Germany is it.) Nowadays ants this big (almost) don’t have colonies greater than a few thousand.
I doubt that their large size was because they were still shrinking from wasps, perhaps they evolved from smaller ants so that they were able to deal with the larger inverts and reptiles that would have been around at that time.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2010 11:20:50 GMT 1
WOWSER, that's one bigs bug. . . imagine 1,000,000 of 'em crawlin' around (and up) your ankles. . . *has terrible day dream* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
|
|
|
Post by Myrm on Apr 14, 2010 11:44:30 GMT 1
Oh noes! A bin lid is being eaten by giant ants. What should we do?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2010 23:32:02 GMT 1
Leave him and run.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2010 4:39:22 GMT 1
Aww, that's so mean XD. But then again, what can we do? ;D
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2010 23:17:32 GMT 1
True dat.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 26, 2010 20:49:45 GMT 1
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 20, 2011 18:28:41 GMT 1
They're probably extinct due to falling levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. Insects don't have lungs, so can't absorb as much oxygen as we do, thus they shrunk in size over millions of years to make up for it.
This is why we'll never be invaded by giant ants/spiders/starship trooper style bitey things. Well.. until our 6-8 legged friends develop lungs anyway... then we should run!
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 11, 2011 12:49:03 GMT 1
I'd like to keep them hahaha
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 11, 2011 18:24:24 GMT 1
They're not actually that much bigger than Camponotus gigas (worker wise)
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2011 20:24:11 GMT 1
Camponotus Gigas' majors are about 2.5cm approx.
3cm workers would be very bitey indeed.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 12, 2011 23:15:13 GMT 1
It is one of the largest ants in existence, measuring in at 20.9 mm for normal workers, and 28.1 mm for the soldiers (Camponotus gigas)
From wikipedia which I admit isn't always 100% accurate but I would guess it's very close to on this occasion
|
|