Bees, wasps, and ants belong to the order Hymenoptera. Bees feed on flowers; wasps hunt other insects; ants "feed on a whole variety of things," from flowers to dead animals, says University of Georgia entomologist Ken Ross. Morphology also differs: worker bees and wasps with different jobs are all the same size, but the sizes of worker ants vary according to their role in the colony.
With more than 11,000 known species, no two are alike. "There is unbelievable variation in the way they can make a living," says Ross. Slave-maker ants raid other colonies and take their workers as prisoners. Leaf-cutter ants chew leaves into mulch, which grows an edible fungus. A worker caste of honey-pot ants called repletes swell into tiny balls to store food collected by foragers. Army ants move in columns, eating all other insects and small animals in their path.
Ants use antennae to smell ...
