Green weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina)

Rangrang or Asian weaver ant or green weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) is a species of insects in Formicidae, arboreal, rather large ants that are known to have high ability in forming webbing for nests, brown-red-green, social insects and forming colonies in very high populations.

O. smaragdina creates territorial, fierce temperament and attacks anything that approaches the area. Many tree owners in Southeast Asia use them to preserve fruit. The larvae are known as Kroto which are favored by birds being a secondary trading commodity for additional income by farmers.

Ant Weaver has two species that are still alive is the Asian weaver ant (O. smaragdina) which is widespread in tropical Asia and Australia, African weaver ant (O. longinoda) inhabits the tropics in Africa, while the other species in this genus are fossils.

They are the dominant ants in the open forest and make leaf nests which are held together with larval silk. Ants have been important in research on the integration of control, communication, territoriality, colonizing life and controlling agricultural pests.

Weaver ant is a true social insect, has a social structure and the life of the colony is very dependent on the tree. The queen are females, measuring 20-25 mm, green or brown in color and has the duty to spawn babies. The male is in charge of marrying the queen and dying.

The worker are females, measuring 56 mm, orange and greenish, in charge of caring for young ants. Warriors are females, measuring 810 mm, generally orange in color, having strong long legs, long antennae, large jaws, guarding nests, searching and gathering food for all colonies and building nests.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Genus: Oecophylla
Species: O. smaragdina

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Asian palmyra palm (Borassus flabellifer)

Asian palmyra palm ( Borassus flabellifer ) is a species of Arecaceae , palm, sturdy, single-stemmed, cylindrical shape, growing 15-30 meters tall and with a trunk diameter of about 60 cm. The leaves are clustered at the tip of the trunk, forming a rounded crown . The leaf blade resembles a round fan , up to 1.5 meters in diameter. The leaflets are 5-7 cm wide, and the underside is whitish with a waxy coating. The leaf stalk is up to 1 meter long, with a broad, black midrib at the top and a row of two-pointed spines . The inflorescence is borne on a cob, 20-30 cm long, and the stalk is about 50 cm long. The fruits are clustered in clusters of about 20, round, 7-20 cm in diameter, with a brownish-black outer skin and yellow flesh on the inside. The fruit has three seeds in a thick, hard shell. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae Subfamily: Coryphoideae Tribe: Borasseae Subtribe: Lataniinae Genu...

Pink trumpet tree (Tabebuia heterophylla)

Pink trumpet tree ( Tabebuia heterophylla ) is a species of plant in the Bignoniaceae family, growing 6–9 meters tall with a cylindrical trunk and brown bark that is often linearly fissured. The leaves are opposite, compound, with five or fewer minor leaflets. T. heterophylla has striking bright red flowers, tubular, five-lobed, and 5–7.5 cm long. The fruit is a cylindrical pod, up to 20 cm long and up to 1 cm wide. The pod stalk is up to 3 cm long. The pod splits along two lines to release numerous thin, light brown seeds, 0.5–2.5 cm long with two white wings. This species is often used as a street tree and shade tree for residential properties. Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Lamiales Family: Bignoniaceae Genus: Tabebuia Species: Tabebuia heterophylla

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