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Swimming Mechanisms Of Temperate Forest Ants, Noah D. Gripshover, Evan M. Gora, Stephen P. Yanoviak
Swimming Mechanisms Of Temperate Forest Ants, Noah D. Gripshover, Evan M. Gora, Stephen P. Yanoviak
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Swimming Mechanisms of Temperate Forest Ants (Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Formica subsericea)
Noah D. Gripshover, Evan M. Gora, and Stephen P. Yanoviak
University of Louisville
Abstract
Environmental challenges shape the evolution of animal behavior and morphology. For wingless terrestrial invertebrates like ants, pools of water on the forest floor are particularly dangerous. Here we show that ants can overcome this obstacle using a modified gait to transverse the water surface. We compared the locomotor morphology and swimming performance of two arboreal ant species that are common in Kentucky (Camponotus pennsylvanicus and Formica subsericea). We defined performance as speed …