The Rainforest cREMedia 1994 All Rights Reserved. LOWER ANIMALS Ants and termites Ants and termites are social insects, living in colonies of workers and soldiers which guard a solitary egg-laying queen. Army ants are meat-eaters, feeding on a variety of animals even including small birds. They have huge pincerlike jaws. Army ants are carnivorous, feeding on anything in their path. Swarms of army ants move through the forest searching for food. As the swarm advances it disturbs insects which flee upwards. The insects are eaten by antbirds which accompany the ants as they make their way through the forest. Leaf cutter ants do not eat the leaves they clip, but instead carry them to an underground 'fungus garden' deep in the ants underground colony. The leaves are used as fertilizer for this fungus: and the ants eat the fungus. Termites are related to ants, and they mainly eat wood which they digest with the aid of single-celled organisms in their intestines. Some termites construct fungus gardens rather similar to those of the leaf cutter ants. There are over 2000 termite species, most of which are found in the tropics. Beetles and bugs Beetles are insects in which one of the two pairs of wings are modified into a protective 'shell' called the elytra. There are many thousands of species of beetle in tropical rainforests, including the 3 inch long harlequin beetle and the mouse-sized Rhinoceros beetle, recognised by the enormous horns which the male uses to repel other beetles. Harlequin beetles feed on sap and forest fruit: they have long forelegs and antennae and also have a characteristic pattern. Although people often use the names beetle and bug interchangeably, they are really two different kinds of insect. Bugs are sucking insects, with mouthparts modified for sucking juices of animals or plants. Some bugs can also give painful bites. Bugs are often found in warm rainforest environments. Butterflies Butterflies are important rainforest insects. The Atlantic coast rainforests of Brazil alone are home to over 2,000 species of butterfly, many of whom are in danger of extinction. Butterflies feed on nectar, and are important because they pollinate flowers. Major butterfly families found in the rainforests include the ithomids, heliconids and morphids. Some butterflies show complex adaptations - for example some harmless species mimic poisonous species to ward off predators. Centipedes and millipedes Centipedes and millipedes are arthropod animals with many legs. Some of the largest are found in the rainforest, including the giant Malayan centipede Scolopendra, which may grow to 8 inches long and can inflict a painful bite. Centipedes have a single pair of legs on each body segment. Heavily armored tropical millipedes like the ones shown in the bottom two pictures on this page can also grow very large. Millipedes have two pairs of legs on each body segment. Flies Flies are insects with a single pair wings - the second pair of wings is represented by short knobbed structures called halteres. Flies have mouthparts modified for sucking or piercing, and the mouthparts often form a proboscis. Flies are among the least pleasant of rainforest insects, as they include mosquitos, midges, bot flies and the African tsetse fly. Snails Slugs and snails belong to a group of lower animals called mollusks. This giant snail Achatina comes from equatorial Africa and grows to 8 inches in length. These snails feed at dusk, eating rotten plant matter and dead animals. They begin breeding when about a year old and lay pea-sized eggs, often up to several hundred at a time. Giant snails have now been introduced in many parts of the world, and are sometimes considered to be a pest. Spiders Spiders are well represented in rainforest regions. Spiders have eight legs and are usually divided into two groups: web builders and wandering spiders. The examples shown here are all rainforest species: including the bird-eating tarantula of Central and South America and the orb weaver, which builds intricate webs of geometrical designs. The third spider is a wandering spider photographed in equatorial Africa. Orthoptera Stick insects, mantises, locusts and cockroaches all belong to the same group of insects. They all have chewing mouthparts and often have long thin forewings with broader hindwings that fit under the forewings. Some families in this group, notably the phasmids (stick insects) and mantises have small or absent wings. Others like the locusts and cockroaches are notorious pests but for different reasons. Locusts attack crops while cockroaches may infest houses.