mermithergate

From New Latin mermithergata, from Ancient Greek μέρμις (mérmis, “cord, string”) + ἐργάτης (ergátēs, “worker”).

der

The normal worker castes of Pheidole gouldi are depicted in comparison with a mermithergate: side view of the body of a mermithergate, with the Mermis nematode visible through the intersegmental membranes of its gaster […]

2003, Edward O. Wilson, Pheidole in the New World: A Dominant, Hyperdiverse Ant Genus:

(entomology) A worker ant that is deformed by parasitic nematodes.


formicivorous

Formicivorous mammals (those which feed mainly on ants) come in all shapes and sizes […]

2010, Paula Hammond, Atlas of the World's Strangest Animals, page 152:


formicivore

(zoology) Any organism that feeds on ants.


Aleppo gall

The gall produced by the leaves of the Aleppo oak, Quercus infectoria, in response to the larvae of a species of gall wasp, Cynips quercusfolii, and which has been harvested for thousands of years as a concentrated source of tannins for use in high-quality inks, in medicine, etc.


antmire

Alteration of pismire by the Puritan settlers of the New World, equivalent to ant + mire (“ant”, obsolete). The Puritans were known to have adopted new terms or to have modified other ones to have less potential for offensiveness, hence the use of rooster for cock in North America, chickadee for tit, etc.
The form anty-mire is likely a minced alteration of pissymire, a variant of pismire.


RIFA

red imported fire ant
red imported fire ant#English


red imported fire ant

en-noun

red imported fire ant (plural red imported fire ants)

Solenopsis invicta, a red ant native to South America that has become a pest in numerous other regions.


crazy ant

Because of their erratic movements when disturbed.

Any of various ants, mostly in the genus Paratrechina.


lemon ant

From the lemony taste of acids produced as part of their glandular chemical defence system.

Any ant of species Myrmelachista schumanni, that creates devil's gardens.


meat ant

Named after its habit of stripping the meat off dead vertebrates.

Iridomyrmex purpureus, a carnivorous ant endemic to Australia.


buff-tailed bumblebee

buff-tailed bumblebee (plural buff-tailed bumblebees)

Parting the glossy leaves I discovered a buff-tailed bumblebee ensnared in an orb web.

2016 July 8, Claire Stares, The Guardian:

Any of species Bombus terrestris of bumblebees common across large parts of Europe.


short-haired bumblebee

short-haired bumblebee (plural short-haired bumblebees)

The short-haired bumblebee vanished from the UK in 1988, having suffered declines over the previous 60 years as its habitat was lost, and was officially declared locally extinct in 2000.

A species of bumblebee, Bombus subterraneus, native to Eurasia.


ghost ant

Tapinoma melanocephalum
Tapinoma melanocephalum#Translingual

An ant of species Tapinoma melanocephalum, with a dark head and pale or translucent legs and gaster, widespread in tropical and semitropical environments.


microgastrine

Previous phylogenies including multiple members of microgastrine genera have shown patterns of high host specificity within species and a high degree of host conservatism among closely related species.

2016 March 5, “Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Reared Parasitoid Wasps of the Genus Glyptapanteles Ashmead 1904 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Microgastrinae) Associated with Lepidoptera in India”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

Any braconid wasp of the subfamily Microgastrinae.


weaver ant

Any ant of the genus Oecophylla which construct their nests by weaving leaves together with silk produced by their larvae.


samsum

Thus, it has been reported that samsum ant venom (SAV) inhibits the IGF-I mediated phosphorylation of ERK and AKT, but not p38MAPK [ 126 ].

2015 July 15, Kallirroi Voudouri et al., “Insulin-Like Growth Factor and Epidermal Growth Factor Signaling in Breast Cancer Cell Growth: Focus on Endocrine Resistant Disease”, in Analytical cellular pathology (Amsterdam), volume 2015, →DOI:

Any of certain black ants in species Pachycondyla sennaarensis (syn. Brachyponera sennaarensis)


antlet

[…] if any one of the antlets wanted to come out of his silken covering he could be helped to cut his way through […]

1903, Agnes Warner McClelland Daulton, Wings and Stings, page 107:

I wondered whether ants found it necessary to hold classes of instruction for all upcoming antlets in order to maintain their organized and busy mound-building society.

1997, Larry Dean Olsen, Outdoor Survival Skills, page 3:


hymenopteron

hymenopteron (plural hymenoptera or hymenopterons)

hymenoptera (plural)
hymenopterons (plural)

The remaining insects included larvae of midges, soldier-flies, horse-flies, may-flies, a hymenopteron, and a bird louse, of a species (Lipeurus squalidus) known to infest the Shoveller.

1922, John Charles Phillips, A Natural History of the Ducks:

“The couple holding hands in the corner could be the Bee and a lady friend,” Prance said. “They're the likeliest bet, although that one really large table might hold a hymenopteron. Do you recognize any of them?”


proctotrupid

Larval proctotrupids are mostly parasitoids of litter or rotten wood-inhabiting larvae.

2015, Vladimir V. Gouli, Concise Illustrated Dictionary of Biocontrol Terms, page 116:

(zoology) Any wasp of the family Proctotrupidae.


masarine

In contrast to the majority of bees, which transport pollen externally, masarines take pollen mixed with nectar from flowers with deep corollas (Gess 1996).

2007, James H. Hunt, The Evolution of Social Wasps, page 28:

(entomology) Any wasp in the subfamily Masarinae.


pollen wasp

Any wasp in the vespid subfamily Masarinae, which are unique among the vespids in feeding their larvae with pollen and nectar, instead of with insects.


bald-faced hornet

bald-faced hornet (plural bald-faced hornets)

A North American yellowjacket distinguished by its black and white coloration with white marks on the face and by its hornet-like aerial nests (Dolichovespula maculata).


blackjacket

The bald-faced hornet, Dolichovespula maculata, another species of yellow jacket with similar coloration.


meat bee

From meat + bee, so called because it resembles a bee and is known for feeding on meat and other human food left exposed outdoors.

(Canada, US, informal) The yellowjacket.


rose slug

A stated meeting was held this day. T. Lee, Esq., proposed to the Society the importance of awarding a small premium for the purpose of inducing cultivators to discover some effectual method of destroying the rose slug, which infests the rose bush.

1840, The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and All Useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs, page 274:

The rose slug or sawfly is neither a slug nor a fly; actually, it is an insect related to bees and wasps.

2013, Loren Nancarrow, Dead Snails Leave No Trails: Natural Pest Control for Home and Garden:

Rose slugs are the larvae of sawflies, non-stinging members of the wasp family. Three species are rose pests: the rose slug (Endelomyia aethiops), the bristly rose slug (Cladius difformis), and the curled rose sawfly (Aallantus cinctus).

2015, Peter Kukielski, Roses Without Chemicals: 150 Disease-Free Varieties That Will Change the Way You Grow Roses:

The larvae of various species of sawfly that feed on rose plant leaves.


slave-making ant

slave-making ant (plural slave-making ants)


bee beard

A large number of honey bees depending from a person's face so as to resemble a beard; a common sideshow demonstration.


euphorine

euphorine (countable and uncountable, plural euphorines)

Euphorines are rather unusual hymenopterans in attacking the adult stage of various insects.

1997, Robert Alan Wharton, Paul M. Marsh, Michael J. Sharkey, Manual of the New World genera of the family Braconidae (Hymenoptera):

The life cycles of these euphorine parasitoids are synchronized with those of their hosts.

2001, Alfred George Wheeler, Biology of the Plant Bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae), →ISBN:

Although euphorines usually oviposit between abdominal sclerites, often near the anus, some species exhibit a well-pronounced preference for different sites such as the mouth (Wylie, 1985), whilst others are evidently more plastic in their behaviour (Wylie & Loan, 1984). It is usual for the euphorines that attack beetles to have two, or sometimes more, annual generations on a single generation of their univoltine hosts.

2012, Pierre H. Jolivet, M.L. Cox, E. Petitpierre, Novel aspects of the biology of Chrysomelidae, →ISBN, page 435:

(taxonomy, countable) A parasitic wasp of the subfamily Euphorinae (a subfamily of Braconidae), characterized by two submarginal cells in the forewing and, usually, a petiolate first gastral tergite.


chalcidoid

Any chalcid wasp of the superfamily Chalcidoidea


cynipoid

Relating to, or characteristic of the gall wasps of the superfamily Cynipoidea


turtle ant

The species he concentrated on was Cephalotes atratus, a slate-black “turtle ant” with a flattened body. High-speed videos proved that when dislodged from a tree, a turtle ant stretches out her body and limbs and aligns herself with respect to the ground so that she doesn't turn head over heels.

2010, Mark W. Moffett, Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions, University of California Press, page 137:

The crab spider of South America feeds mostly on turtle ants.

2016, Mark E. Lasbury, The Realization of Star Trek Technologies, Springer, page 38:

That's very much the case for the arboreal turtle ants in the tropical forests of Mexico, another species Gordon visits during her summers off from teaching.

2017, Amina Khan, Adapt: How Humans Are Tapping into Nature's Secrets to Design and Build a Better Future, St. Martin's Press, page 213:

Any of the tree-dwelling ants of the tribe Cephalotini (genera Cephalotes and Procryptocerus).


horse guard wasp

horse guard wasp (plural horse guard wasps)

A large sand wasp (Stictia carolina) of the eastern United States which preys primarily on horseflies.


common carder bee

common carder bee (countable and uncountable, plural common carder bees)

This common carder bee was spotted in Southville, Bristol by Neil James Brain as part of the 2016 count.

2018 May 25, Eric Hilaire, The Guardian:

A species of bumblebee, Bombus pascuorum, long recognised as an example of the carder bees.


violet carpenter bee

violet carpenter bee (plural violet carpenter bees)

A species (Xylocopa violacea) of the carpenter bee that is most common in Europe.


European hornet

European hornet (plural European hornets)

There are eight UK species of yellow-jackets, alongside their bigger cousin, the European hornet.

2017 August 25, Mark Shardlow, The Guardian:

A large species of hornet (Vespa crabro) found across Eurasia and North America.


poneromorph

An ant in any subdivision of the subfamily Ponerinae sensu lato.


dolichoderomorph

Any ant that has the form of a member of the subfamily Dolichoderinae


ectaheteromorph

Any poneromorph ant of the subfamilies Ectatomminae or Heteroponerinae


poneroid

(myrmecology) Any ant of the subfamily Ponerinae or related taxa.


thynnid

A member of the family Thynnidae of wasps.


proctotrupomorph

Any wasp of the former suborder Proctotrupomorpha (now Apocrita)


meliponine

Any (stingless) bee of the tribe Meliponini.


aphidiine

clipping

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">Aphidiinae</i>

Any of the subfamily Aphidiinae of parasitic wasps.


opiine

A braconid wasp of the subfamily Opiinae


sycoryctine

Any parasitic wasp of the subfamily Sycoryctinae


camponotine

Any ant of the tribe Camponotini, or, especially of the genus Camponotus


skull-collecting ant

en-noun

skull-collecting ant (plural skull-collecting ants)

(informal, entomology) Formica archboldi, a kind of ant that hunts trap jaw ants and takes their decapitated heads back to its nest.


pavement ant

An ant of a species that often nests under pavement or rocks:


anomopterellid

Any ant of the subfamily Anomopterellinae (sometimes family Anomopterellidae)


sweat bee

Any of various bees that are attracted to the salt in human sweat, principally Halictidae spp.


campoplegine

Any parasitoid wasp of the subfamily Campopleginae


rose sawfly

Arge ochropus, a sawfly that attacks rose plants.


braconine

Any braconid parasitoid wasps of the subfamily Braconinae


warrior wasp

Any of various wasps of ferocious appearance and aggressive behavior, especially in taxa:

Synoeca, found in South and Central America.


labenine

Any parasitic wasp of the subfamily Labeninae


megalodontesid

(zoology) Any of the wood wasps in the family Megalodontesidae

megalodontid

technically invalid name in use before the family was renamed in 1996


platygastroid

Any parasitoid wasp of the superfamily Platygastroidea


murder hornet

Calque of Japanese 殺人スズメバチ (literally “murder hornet”), from 殺人 (satsujin, “さつじん”)+スズメバチ (suzumebachi, “雀蜂”), equivalent to murder + hornet. From its ability to kill people through its painful venomous stings, which can pierce through most regular beekeeper suits, killing some dozens of people a year in Japan; and its propensity for killing off honeybee colonies.

calque

Their murderous rampages on bee colonies have earned them the nickname ‘murder hornets’ from entomologists.

2017 January 1, “The Asian Giant Hornet, The Bee-Decapitating Hornet That Is The Stuff Of Nightmares”, in All That's Interesting:

2020, "Deadly Hornet Massacres a Mouse on Video, They're Huge", TMZ
It's unclear if this is, in fact, a murder hornet

2020, "The murder hornet is the 2020 B-plot you probably didn’t see coming", Kim Lyons, The Verge
Some days the news is upbeat and interesting and then other days the writers of the script for 2020: The Horror Show throw in a murder hornet plot twist because a pandemic is apparently not terrifying enough without two-inch hornets that rip the heads off of honeybees.

2020, "Murder Hornets Are In Canada Because 2020 Just Keeps On Going", Sima Shakeri, Huffington Post
The New York Times reported about the hornets on Saturday that shared graphic details of the piles of honeybee corpses left behind after murder hornets infiltrated their hives.

2020, " "Murder hornets" have now entered the U.S. — and they could decimate the honeybee population ", Li Cohen, CBS News
But murder hornets become most dangerous from late summer to early fall, when they ravage through honey bee populations.

Winter is on its way out. The days are getting longer, vaccinations are ramping up and an end to the pandemic could be in sight. But murder hornets don't care about any of that.

2021 March 17, Maria Morava, Scottie Andrew, “Murder hornet season is around the corner”, in CNN.com:

Asian giant hornet
Asian giant hornet#English

Vespa mandarinia
Vespa mandarinia#Translingual

(informal) Synonym of Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) ^((See discussion))


black palmer

Mr. Wooldridge informed me, that on the first appearance of the insects, before he had himself observed them, one of his older neighbours remarked to him, that "the yellow flies which produce the black palmers were then abundant in the turnip fields;" […]

1839, G. Newport, “Essay on the Turnip Fly”, in The Farmer's Magazine, page 123:

The caterpillars of the Turnip Sawfly (Athalia spinarum) called ‘Niggers’ or ‘Black Palmers’ attack the leaves at a more advanced stage, and may be recognised by their dull yellow colour, and dense whitish short hairs.

1901, John Weathers, A Practical Guide to Garden Plants ...:

(obsolete, colloquial) The larva of the turnip sawfly, an agricultural pest


beemageddon

Now, a new study has pinpointed some of the probable causes of bee deaths and the rather scary results show that averting beemageddon will be much more difficult than previously thought.

2013 September, Todd Woody, “Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought”, in The Beekeepers Quarterly, page 41:

You've probably heard about Beemageddon. Over the past few years, colony collapse disorder – thought to be brought on by a pernicious combination of overwork, bad weather, pesticides and infestations of parasitic varroa mites – has been threatening to wipe out honeybees all over the world, and with them many of our food crops.

2013 November 16, Caroline Williams, “I, bee bot”, in New Scientist, page 43:

The harrowing mystery of CCD [colony collapse disorder] carried on for the next two years, spawning documentaries, reports from major news networks, magazine features, and various “Beemageddon” hoopla surrounding the bees' steady decline […]

2017, David MacNeal, Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them, pages 253–254:

colony collapse disorder
colony collapse disorder

(informal) The widespread incidence of colony collapse disorder, feared to portend a coming mass extinction of honeybees.


beepocalypse

Yet the media has peddled alarming stories of a “beepocalypse” — a crash in honeybee populations.

2015 May 25, Dany Kelley, “Ounce of prevention won't help honeybees”, in Farmweek, page 16:

The numbers suggest Canada's beekeeping industry is in good shape while the Americans are struggling with a “beepocalypse,” but a U.S. expert says the story is more complicated.

2016 August 18, Robert Arnason, “Winter bee losses decline, summer losses still mystery”, in The Western Producer, page 14:

In the decade since, there's been a boom in beekeeping, with new hives offsetting losses of old hives, staving off the “beepocalypse,” Ellis says.

2019, Cindy Spence, "Hive Help", Explore (University of Florida), Spring 2019, page 20


bee pirate

(South Africa) Any of the solitary wasps of family Crabronidae that prey on honey bees, especially Palarus latifrons and Philanthus triangulum diadema.


yellow crazy ant

en-noun

yellow crazy ant (plural yellow crazy ants)

A yellow-brown ant of species Anoplolepis gracilipes, which forms large colonies and is an invasive pest in many countries.


pompiloid

clipping

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">Pompiloidea</i>


kootchar

A stingless Australian bee, Trigona australis


green tree ant

A species of arboreal tropical weaver ant, Oecophylla smaragdina, distributed from the Subcontinent through Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and northern Australia.


green ant

Any of the green coloured varieties of the green tree ant.


anthole

Coordinate term: anthill


banded sugar ant

en-noun

banded sugar ant (plural banded sugar ants)

An ant of species Camponotus consobrinus, of Australia, with a distinctive orange-brown band around its gaster,


rainbow ant

Named for their blue-green iridescent sheen.


little black ant

little black ant (plural little black ants)

An ant species, Monomorium minimum, native to North America characterized by their small size and for being black and scavengers.


gliding ant

Cephalotes borgmeieri, a species of arboreal ant.


mole cricket wasp

mole cricket wasp (plural mole cricket wasps)

From their tendency to hunt mole crickets.

Any wasp in the genus Larra, notable for their uses in pest management against mole crickets.


long-faced miner bee

long-faced miner bee (plural long-faced miner bees)

Andrena nevadensis, a species of miner bee.


southeastern blueberry bee

southeastern blueberry bee (plural southeastern blueberry bees)

Habropoda laboriosa, a species of bee found in the southeastern United States.


Hercules ant

Camponotus herculeanus, a species of carpenter ant.


coppice mining bee

coppice mining bee (plural coppice mining bees)

Andrena helvola, a species of mining bee.


trichogramma

Any of the tiny insect-egg-parasitizing wasps in the genus Trichogramma, which are widely used as for biological control.


ringed paper wasp

ringed paper wasp (plural ringed paper wasps)

Polistes annularis
Polistes annularis#Translingual

A paper wasp of species Polistes annularis.


two-spotted scoliid wasp

two-spotted scoliid wasp (plural two-spotted scoliid wasps)

A wasp of species Scolia dubia, principally of the US.


fungus-growing ant

fungus-growing ant (plural fungus-growing ants)

Fungus-growing ants (Attini) are in reality unique fungus-culturing insects.

1966 August 5, NEAL A. WEBER, “Fungus-Growing Ants: A symbiotic relationship exists between an insect and a plant, involving an effective culturing technique.”, in Science.org:

The fungus-growing ants are a New World group of > 200 species, all obligate symbionts with a fungus they use for food.

(Can we date this quote?), “Fungus growing ants”, in AntWiki:

(entomology) Any ant of the tribe Attini, which grow fungi in their ant colonies using food scraps, the fungi are then used to feed the colony.


ant mimicry

myrmecomorphy (the mimicry of ants by other animals)


odontomach

clipping

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">Odontomachus</i>

Their anthills and their environs were littered with the severed heads of giant odontomachs, which even spiders fear and respect.

2018 November 18, “Scientists have discovered the secret of ants who collect the ...”, in Planet Today:

In most ants, their jaws are thin sticks with which insects pick up food. But in others, odontomachs, widely distributed in hot regions of ...

2022 July 23, “VIDEO. Supersonic toothed ant jaw – Sciences et Avenir”, in GeekyNews, archived from the original on 2022-12-05:

(myrmecology, entomology) Any ant of the genus Odontomachus.


BIFA

black imported fire ant
black imported fire ant#English


blood bee

A black-and-red bee of the genus Sphecodes.


odorous house ant

en-noun

odorous house ant (plural odorous house ants)

Tapinoma sessile, a small ant producing a strong pungent odor when crushed.


stink ant

odorous house ant
odorous house ant#English


agricultural ant

agricultural ant (plural agricultural ants)


alkali bee

Nomia melanderi, a bee that nests in alkaline soil.


camoati

Polybia occidentalis, a social wasp of South and Central America.


Allegheny mound ant

Allegheny mound ant (plural Allegheny mound ants)

Formica exsectoides, an aggressive ant native to the Atlantic area of North America.


carder bee

carder bee (countable and uncountable, plural carder bees)

(entomology) Common name for any species of bee in the genus Bombus or in the family Wikipedia:Megachilidae, that collects plant fibre and processes it for nesting material, by activities resembling the carding of fibre.

1923 A.D.IMMS A GENERAL TEXTBOOK OF ENTOMOLOGY
Other Bombi, known as carder bees, form surface nests hidden away among grass, ivy or other herbage. They derive their name from their habit of collecting moss and other material used in nest formation and plaiting it with the aid of their legs and mandibles. Having formed the nest the next act of the queen is to collect a mass of pollen which is formed into a paste. Upon the top of this substance she constructs a circular wall of wax and, in the cell thus formed, she lays her first batch of eggs, capping the latter over with a covering of wax.

(entomology) Common name mainly applied to some Bombus species in the northern hemisphere, where they occur widely and are the most familiar species of bees that exhibit carding activity in their nest building, rather than genera such as Anthidium in the Megachilidae, some of which occur in the Northern hemisphere as well and similarly exhibit carding activity .

1979 S.H Skaife. Revised by John Ledger: African Insect Life. →ISBN
The little carder bees of the genus Immanthidium also belong to the Megachilidae. They are mostly black with white markings on the abdomen, and with a white pollen brush on the underside of the abdomen. In some species the males are bigger than the females, an unusual feature among insects. Most of them make their nests in tubular openings, in sites similar to those chosen by the leafcutters, but their cells are lined with cottony fibres which they strip with their mandibles from various hairy plants. As an example of the group we can consider the widespread species, Immanthidium junodi.
The female carder bee arrives at her home carrying a little bundle of white fluff between her front legs. She takes this into her nest and cards the fibrous material by pressing it with her head and working it with her jaws until it forms a thin, uniform, thimble-shaped lining to the bottom of the tube. It takes several journeys before her beautiful white thimble is complete, ready to receive its store of food. She carries the pollen back to the nest on the underside of her abdomen and the nectar in her crop and stocks the cell with the mixture. It takes her about two days to construct and stock a cell; she then lays an egg on top of the food and closes the cell with a pad of fluff, well carded and felted. She fills the tube with cells within 10 mm from the entrance and then seals it off with a thick pad of fibres, pressed down firmly by her head and jaws to form a protective barrier to keep out enemies.

(entomology) In the southern hemisphere, where Bombus species occur only exceptionally, the common name most familiarly applied to species of bees that exhibit carding activity in their nest building, and are members of genera in the Megachilidae, such as Anthidium, Immanthidium and Afranthidium


black imported fire ant

black imported fire ant (plural black imported fire ants)


jack jumper

Glancing back at Hordern's gravestone, I saw that the absent metal letters exposed a pattern of nail holes like woodworm. A jack-jumper ant crawled over his age – he was 63 – and disappeared into the nettles.

2004, Nicholas Shakespeare, In Tasmania, Harvill Press, p. 261

(Australia) Any of various small species of ant of the genus Myrmecia, often capable of jumping and having a painful sting; a jumper. (Also used attributively.)


spider-hunting wasp

spider-hunting wasp (plural spider-hunting wasps)


elm sawfly

From elm (“Ulmus spp.”) + sawfly (“Symphyta spp.”).

com

Cimbex americanus, a species of large sawfly found in North America.


honey wasp

A wasp of the genus Brachygastra, native to the Americas.


iris sawfly

From iris + sawfly, so called because its larvae feed on Iris-genus plants.

Rhadinoceraea micans, a species of sawfly which feeds on plants of the genus Iris.


oil-digger

A bee of the genus Centris, native to the Americas.


Sonoran bumble bee

en-noun

Sonoran bumble bee (plural Sonoran bumble bees)

Sonoran + bumble bee, a calque of translingual Bombus sonorus.

Bombus sonorus, a species of bumble bee found from the southern United States into Central America.