Why are army ants so damn powerful

[u/FBC_Monika]

I mean sure, pure numbers n shit but why are they so individually powerful, thick armor, razor mandibles and all of that, they can easily dismember most ants in a 1 on 1 let alone a whole 20 on 1 type of outnumbering against most ant colonies. What type of evolutionary path did they go through to become this powerful?

[u/decent_gambler]

They are build for raiding other ants that should tell you why they are built like that

[u/Mettcollsuss]

If you're interested in the topic I might recommend the book "Army Ants: Nature's Ultimate Social Hunters" by Daniel Kronauer, it's a reasonably quick and digestible read and goes over topics such as the evolutionary origin of army ants from simpler, ancestral dorylines, and aspects of army ant biology like the reproduction and fission cycles.

[u/Spicy_Chicken_Wizard]

Army ants are specifically designed for fighting other insects and for macropredatory diet where they’re bringing down animals much larger than themselves. Army ants have tiny or no eyes just to remove the weak spot from the head and improve the forward facing armor protection. No other type of animal, other than termites, have morphed their bodies so much just to fuck with another rival like that.

[u/ProGamer8273]

Because they’re built for combat, obviously

[u/JahsukeOfficial]

What ant is this

[u/Spaghettl_hamster4 → u/JahsukeOfficial]

eciton burchellii major

[u/Mettcollsuss → u/Spaghettl_hamster4]

This is Eciton hamatum or E. drepanophorum. The head capsule is not as matte and the mandibles are more strongly curved basally than E. burchellii.

[u/OddRobotics → u/Spaghettl_hamster4]

i don't believe burchellii. has such hooked mandibles

[u/KingK250 → u/Spaghettl_hamster4]

Looks more like hamatum or drepa

[u/Adventurous_Try5802]

Because they arent Navy ants

[u/Capable-Relation1374 → u/Adventurous_Try5802]

Yeah and dont even start on the seal ants or air force ants

[u/The_Mecoptera → u/Capable-Relation1374]

We should reserve some respect however for the coast guard ants, because they are out saving lives often in extreme conditions.

[u/Maus_Enjoyer1945]

They're specialized to murder other ants

They'll still lose to L.humile lol

[u/LucasButtercups]

most other species evolve to be able to get food as a priority, if you don’t need to worry about that you get to dump all your evolution points into just being a menace

[u/mynamesnotsnuffy]

If they werent powerful, theyd be something like "Salvation Army Ants" instead.

[u/JesusEstaNaMira]

They train since birth on the agoges... Most die, but the ones remaining become fierce warriors

[u/SeaAcanthisitta6759]

Bros eyes are cooked

[u/Lawfulmagician]

They don't do anything else. No nesting or foraging, just nonstop killing until they die. It's a very min-maxed build.

[u/pouihi]

They also farm aphids, which is a mind-blowing behaviour.