Ant species that co-exist have different ecological niches. This distinction of the niche reduces competition between ant colonies that can suppress the population. For example, one ant species chooses to search for small food particles, another species selects large food particles. There are ants that choose to nest on the ground, some are in the crevices of wood, some are among the leaves of the tree. There are ants that are active at night, some are active during the day. Given these different life strategies, ant species can share their environmental resources.
Ants set foot on Earth for 90 million years ago, preceded the newly emerged man some 250,000 years ago. Nevertheless, only 10 million years ago the number of species and the population of ants has grown and reached the current abundance. In its long history of life, ant species evolved to develop complex and interesting adaptations in morphology, physiology, and social behavior. An example is the appearance of farmed ants, farm ants, social parasitic ants, silk weaver ants, flying ants, giant ants, and even ants that can blow themselves up. With such a complexity of life, it is not surprising that ants are considered the culmination of insect evolution, just as humans are the apex of vertebrate evolution.
