How many ants have legs?

How many ants have legs? The answer to the question is obvious: like all representatives of the insect class, six. Moreover, the number of legs is one of the hallmarks of this taxonomic unit such as the arthropods of the animal kingdom.

Ant - an insect is very common. According to experts, the total mass of ants of the Earth is from ten to twenty percent of the total biomass (the mass of all living things, including plants and micro-organisms) of the planet. True, it is interesting: how accurate are the calculations of biologists? And anyway, is there a technique that allows you to calculate the mass of a particular species, genus, order or class of animals? Most likely, the calculation error will be quite significant.

Ants were isolated from insects in an independent family for a very long time. The first individuals recorded by paleontologists in the heyday of the reign of dinosaurs - about one hundred and seventy million years ago. The first ants were primitive in structure (compared with modern ants). Today there are two kinds of ants, almost unchanged since that time. These are the so-called "living fossils". The first of these was found in Australia in 1931 (dinosaur ant), and the second one was discovered in Brazil only five years ago. How many legs did the ants have when dinosaurs walked around the planet? Scientists are unanimous: six! Since that time it is a fundamental difference of insects from arthropods of other classes.

Arthropods, including a number of both terrestrial and marine animals, are divided into a large number of genera. The exact number is unknown, since the discoveries occur regularly. Therefore, even specialists are at a loss to answer - how many. The leg of the unasectable is always six, so it's easy to guess that, for example, spiders are not among them. If you are still not interested, then if necessary, count his legs. There will be eight. Spiders, like insects, are of the arthropod type, stand out as a separate family of arachnids. To this family belong the class of all well-known ticks. Yes, yes, they also have eight legs. Including the encephalitic mite, which should be feared when visiting the northern and Siberian forests.

It would seem that all this is not difficult, and therefore it is well remembered. However, often in the study of biology in the school before the question of how many legs the ants, not too attentive students fall into a stupor. It would seem that you see these insects almost every day, but you did not bother to count your legs.

The legs of the ant, consisting of three joints, are extremely strong. According to biologists, our usual red forest ant can carry a weight twentyfold greater than its own. If the ratio of leg strength and body weight in a person would be the same as for an ant, he could run at the speed of a thoroughbred racehorse. Each of the ant legs has three joints. The upper part is the hip, the shin is lower, and the spur is located at the junction. The lowest part of the ant foot is called the foot. At the end of the foot is the so-called claw.

Occasionally, scientists doubt whether to assign a representative of arthropods to which class or group. And although the taxonomy of flora and fauna - a thing more or less settled, disputes among biologists do not cease to this day. Ironically, new species of invertebrates are discovered every year, although it would seem that the planet has been explored along and across! And although the question of how many legs ants do not have in the discharge of actual, it is quite possible that the opinion of biologists regarding the place and role of these representatives of collective insects in the evolution of life on Earth will be updated and refined as our knowledge of the planet increases.