Wildlife: A Beetle Is Attacked By Ants During Night In The Northern Jungles Of Guatemala Stock Image

A beetle is attacked by ants in Nakum Archaeological site, in the jungles of Petén, Guatemala. Scarabs are stout-bodied beetles, many with bright metallic colours, measuring between 1.5 and 160mm. They have distinctive, clubbed antennae composed of plates called lamellae that can be compressed into a ball or fanned out like leaves to sense odours. The front legs of many species are broad and adapted for digging. In some groups males and sometimes females have prominent horns on the head and/or pronotum to fight over mates or resources. Ants are eusocial insects of the fami Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the Cretaceous period, about 140 million years ago, and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. Ants use pheromones for more than just making trails. A crushed ant emits an alarm pheromone that sends nearby ants into an attack frenzy and attracts more ants from farther away. Ants attack and defend themselves by biting and, in many species, by stinging, often injecting or spraying chemicals, such as formic acid in the case of formicine ants, alkaloids and piperidines in fire ants, and a variety of protein components in other ants. Bullet ants Paraponera, located in Central and South America, are considered to have the most painful sting of any insect, although it is usual not fatal to humans. This sting is given the highest rating on the Schmidt Sting Pain Index.