You’ve Never Seen Ants Like This Before
The Antscan database captures the tiny insects’ diversity and shows how the world’s living things could be rendered in three dimensions.
Ants are a lot of things. They’re nearly everywhere you look. They’re abundant — at least 20 quadrillion at last estimate. Some wreak havoc. Some are just weird. And many are crucial to the health of their environments.
And now, in a study published on Thursday in the journal Nature Methods, ants are the stars of a stunning parade of high-resolution 3-D images made by Dr. Economo and his colleagues. The scans reveal the insects’ diverse bodies, inside and out, in exquisite anatomical detail.
HERE SOME MORE ANT SPECIES FROM ANTSCAN
Animated 3D models of Discothyrea sexarticulata (specialist predator of arthropod eggs), Eciton hamatum (army ant), and Paraponera clavata (bullet ant), rendered at life-scale proportions to showcase differences in size, form, and ecological strategy.
Animated 3D model of the “turtle ant” Cephalotes clypeatus (specimen ID: CASENT0744108).
Animated 3D model of a the giant, infamos “bullet ant” Paraponera clavata (specimen ID: CASENT0744657).
Animated 3D model of a subsoldier of the South American army ant Eciton hamatum (specimen ID: CASENT0744582).
Animated 3D model of a minute ant of the species Discothyrea sexarticulata, a specialist predator of arthropod eggs (specimen ID: CASENT0744287).