It is not only bees that produce honey, but also this type of ants that mainly populates the regions of Mexico. They are true jewels of nature capable of nourishing their fellow men thanks to the nectar they collect from the flowers and transform into honey drops.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
When we think of honey, we naturally imagine bees elaborately transforming flower nectar into their hive from flower fields into the sweet product we all know, yet few are aware that even some ants are capable of producing honey and for this capacity they have been called, not surprisingly, honey.
The honey ants or melliferous ants are a widespread species between the United States and Mexico that was first sighted towards the end of the sixteenth century when some missionaries of the Spanish colonial Empire noticed in present-day Mexico some very particular insects that had the appearance of the ants, but which they guarded in their abdomen an amber pearl. However, we will have to wait until the end of the nineteenth century for an accurate description of them.
In fact, studied by entomological numbers, they were called honey ants because of the sweet liquid they produced which for some would have the flavor of wild strawberries, blackberries and vanilla.
The arrival of spring marks the beginning of the nectar harvest for the honey ants. The workers come out of their anthills about 1 meter deep and 2 in diameter to reach the newly blossomed flowers and leaves of the plants and transform the nectar and sap into a honey with shades that differ from ant to ant.
The whole process takes place in their abdomen which swells to such an extent that it prevents them from walking, but from rolling over and over. Once the honey is ready, this will help feeding other ants during periods of greatest drought in which the quantities of water and food available to the colony will be more scarce.
The other ants in fact feed on the sweet liquid, which is expelled by the honey workers spontaneously through regurgitation, starting from the end of spring until the hottest summer months. Everything follows a natural process, marked by the times of Mother Nature.
Due to their unique characteristic of being a walking food supply, honey ants are often preyed upon by other species.
Source: ecured
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