European gate-keeper ant
The European gate-keeper ant is a small ant from Europe, North Africa and western Asia. It got its name from a clever trick: some of its workers block the door of the nest. It was first described more than 200 years ago by an Italian bug scientist.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
Some of its workers have a flat, cut-off looking head, which they use like a plug to close the entrance of the nest.
It is more common in southern and central Europe than in the north.
It is the first known kind in its group of ants, so scientists use it as the example for the whole group.
Most asked questions about European gate-keeper ant
?Why is it called the gate-keeper ant?
Some workers block the nest entrance with their flat heads, like a living door.
?Where does the European gate-keeper ant live?
In southern and central Europe, northwestern Africa and western Asia.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Colobopsis truncata
- Named by
- Spinola, 1808
- Group
- Ants
- Family
- Formicidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hymenoptera > Formicidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Colobopsis truncata (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Erin Prado / Ā© 2018 California Academy of Sciences. CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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