User:Tsrsilv/Ant anatomy
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Ant anatomy is a discipline in Myrmecology concerned with studying both external and internal structural components of ants' body parts. Historically, the discipline has focused its study on the description of external anatomical components in female ants, especially of sterile apterous females (commonly known as workers), for taxonomic purposes. [citation needed]
Overview
[edit]Ants, as other apocritan Hymenoptera, have their bodies segmented in three distinct sections: head, mesosoma, and metasoma. The first segment of the metasoma, frequently called petiole, is posteriorly separated from the remaining segments of the metasoma by a well-marked constriction. In some subfamilies, the second segment of the metasoma is further separated from the remaining segments of the metasoma by another constriction, forming an additional petiole, frequently called postpetiole. The metasoma segments that do not correspond to the petiole (or postpetiole) are collectively named as gaster. [citation needed]