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Name : coon bear ant ( Euspinolia militaris )
Where it lives : Chile
Female panda ants tend to be black and white, and wield huge stingers about half the length of their bodies.
What it eats : Nectar from flower , small insects
Why it ’s awesome : Despite the name , panda ants are a case of white Anglo-Saxon Protestant belong to to the Mutillidae family , whose wingless female resemble large , hairy ant . They have a velvety livid coating , with blackened situation around the eyes and body — alike to pandas ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) .
This unusual coloring is loosely only seen in female , fit in to National Geographic . It is aposematic , meaning it warns predators of its powerful , poisonous sting , which is n’t deadly to humans but can be very unspeakable . Only female have stingers , which are just about half the distance of their 0.3 - inch - retentive ( 8 millimeters ) bodies , as they are modified egg - laying organs .
Like in all wasps , the cut is still , meaning the dirt ball can bite time and clip again .
Panda pismire do n’t constitute settlement but lead solitary life in hot , teetotal coastal areas of Chile . They forage for food , which let in efflorescence nectar and little louse , and they tend to live in sandy area where they can well hunt for food and find other insect ’ nest to lie their eggs in .
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Panda ants mate in the air , with the winged Male lifting the flightless females . It ’s not known on the nose why they do this , but it may be to avoidpredators , to stop other Male mating with the female person or to prevent the female from getting aside .
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Afterwards , females go underground to find a desirable shoes to position their eggs . These insects do n’t create their own nest but rather lay their eggs in thenest of another insect , such as a ground bee or wasp . Once the panda ant testis hatch , they eat up the host ’s larvae . They then grow inside the nest , turn from larvae to pupa before becoming fully acquire panda emmet . A female cat bear ant can lie up to 2,000 bollock within her two - year living cycle .
Panda emmet have another strange skill — the ability to produce in high spirits - pitchedsoundsby rubbing together part of their bodies such as their ramification or feeler to warn off predators . Although other wasps from the Mutillidae kinsfolk can produce similar sound , the disturbance made by panda ants can reachultrasoniclevels . These noise may act as a conjugation signaling , as well as keeping predators like rodents away .
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