Tiny, pesky beings and some have a sting too. Yet ants, yes we are talking about them, have always fascinated poets, storytellers and filmmakers too. We have read about hard-working ants, the corporate ant, the ants that take revenge on an arrogant elephant and so on, while the movie Antz went on to become a cult film.
Recently, in Thiruvananthapuram, Manoj Vembayam and Kalesh Sadasivan brought out a book on ants - Urumbukal. Different kinds of ants, their habitat, behaviour, food habits, navigation, communication, nest construction, taxonomy…the book has all that and much more. Unfortunately they had to restrict their findings to 32 ant species seen in Kerala, while the total number stands at over 150.
“In fact, there are over 60 ant varieties in our neighbourhood itself and nearly 250 species in the Western Ghats region alone. The book features common species and a couple of rare ants seen in Kerala along with photographs. It is written from a layman’s point of view, with basic details about each species such as its scientific name, English and Malayalam names, size, how to identify the varieties and their behaviour,” says Dr. Kalesh,
Kalesh and Manoj are members of Travancore Natural History Society (TNHS), an NGO that is into studying the natural history and biodiversity of the southern Western Ghats.
“I have been studying birds and, later, butterflies. Manoj was already an ant watcher and his passion for the subject inspired me as well,” says Dr. Kalesh. The book On a Trail With The Ants Of India by Ajay Narendra and Sunil Sharma acted as a catalyst for the duo. And the book Fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma – Volume II by Charles Thomas Bingham, which is on ants and cuckoo-wasps, became their Bible.
“For a layman, most ants look the same but I was intrigued by their sheer variety. From bird watching, I started concentrating on ants. Since I had little knowledge about the taxonomy, I interacted with Kalesh and thus started our study on ants,” says Manoj. It was when they started working on the project that they realised that many varieties don’t have a common English or Malayalam name. So they came up with vernacular names according to the characteristics of these species.
For example, Armoured Ant or Panthurumbu has been named after its armoured exterior and their escape mechanism of curling up when touched; Fingerprint Ant or Varayan kunjurumbu has lines that resemble finger prints all over its body; the genus Polyrhachis is translated as spiny ant or mullurumbu since most species under the genus have spines…
There were instances when they chanced upon certain varieties. “The Fingerprint Ant is known to be found only in the Silent Valley area. But, I found it in front of my house at Vembayam,” says Manoj.
A challenge was photographing the ants. “Though macro photography deals with photographing small subjects, for ants conventional macro lenses that give a 1:1 ratio of reproduction is less useful. We needed lenses that can magnify subjects much more. So we used conventional lenses in a reversed way (Reverse mounting) and super macro lenses,” says Kalesh.
The book, published by Kerala Bhasha Institute, costs Rs. 60.
Titbits
* Contrary to belief, ants are really strong and can carry 20 to 50 times their body weight.
* Jumping ant or Chaattakkaaranurumbu (Harpegnathos saltator) can leap a few inches. The entrance to their nest is decorated with flowers or remains of leaves or twigs.
* Greater Trapjaw Ant or Vetturumbu has large, straight appendages capable of opening 180 degrees.
* While Black spiny ant or Ennakkaruppan mullurumbu and Common spiny ant or Vayalvaramban can secrete a liquid, which has the smell of a jasmine flower, the Golden spiny ant or Suvarna mullurumbu and Red-legged spiny ant or Chengalan mullurumbu smell of vinegar when you touch them.
The authors
Kalesh Sadasivan is one of the founders of Travancore Natural History Society (TNHS) and non-academic Senior Resident, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Government Medical College, Trivandrum. Manoj Vembayam is a mechanic with Kerala State Road Transport Corporation at its Kaniyapuram depot.
