Editing Ant (section)

==Distribution and diversity==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="float:right; margin:10px;"
|-
! [[Region]] !! Number of<br />species&nbsp;<ref name = HolldoblerWilsonAnts>Hölldobler & Wilson (1990), p. 4</ref>
|-
| [[Neotropical realm|Neotropics]] ||align="right"| 2,162
|-
| [[Nearctic realm|Nearctic]] ||align="right"| 580
|-
| [[Europe]] ||align="right"| 180
|-
| [[Africa]] ||align="right"| 2,500
|-
| [[Asia]] ||align="right"| 2,080
|-
| [[Melanesia]] ||align="right"| 275
|-
| [[Australia]] ||align="right"| 985
|-
| [[Polynesia]] ||align="right"| 42
|}
Ants have a [[cosmopolitan distribution]]. They are found on all continents except [[Antarctica]], and only a few large islands, such as [[Greenland]], [[Iceland]], parts of [[Polynesia]] and the [[Hawaii|Hawaiian Islands]] lack native ant species.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/08/ants/did-you-know-learn
| title=Fantastic ants – Did you know?
| work=National Geographic Magazine
| author=Jones, Alice S
| access-date=5 July 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080730071158/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/08/ants/did-you-know-learn| archive-date=30 July 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.hear.org/ants/ |title=Pest Ants in Hawaii
| year=2007
| author=Thomas, Philip
| publisher=Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR)
| access-date=6 July 2008}}</ref> Ants occupy a wide range of [[ecological niche]]s and exploit many different food resources as direct or indirect herbivores, predators and scavengers. Most ant species are omnivorous [[Generalist and specialist species|generalists]], but a few are specialist feeders. There is considerable variation in ant abundance across habitats, peaking in the moist tropics to nearly six times that found in less suitable habitats.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Fayle |first1=Tom M. |last2=Klimes |first2=Petr |date=2022-10-18 |title=Improving estimates of global ant biomass and abundance |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=119 |issue=42 |pages=e2214825119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2214825119 |doi-access=free |pmid=36197959 |pmc=9586285 |bibcode=2022PNAS..11914825F |issn=0027-8424}}</ref> Their ecological dominance has been examined primarily using estimates of their [[biomass (ecology)|biomass]]: myrmecologist [[E. O. Wilson]] had estimated in 2009 that at any one time the total number of ants was between one and ten [[1,000,000,000,000,000|quadrillion]] ([[short scale]]) (i.e., between 10<sup>15</sup> and 10<sup>16</sup>) and using this estimate he had suggested that the total [[Biomass (ecology)|biomass]] of all the ants in the world was approximately equal to the total biomass of the entire [[human]] race.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/superorganismbea0000hlld |title=The Superorganism: The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies |vauthors=Holldobler B, Wilson EO |publisher=W.W. Norton |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-393-06704-0 |place=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/superorganismbea0000hlld/page/5 5] |url-access=registration}}</ref> More careful estimates made in 2022 which take into account regional variations puts the global ant contribution at 12 megatons of dry carbon, which is about 20% of the total human contribution, but greater than that of the wild birds and mammals combined. This study also puts a conservative estimate of the ants at about 20 × 10<sup>15</sup> (20 quadrillion).<ref name="schultz">{{cite journal | vauthors = Schultz TR | title = In search of ant ancestors | journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume = 97 | issue = 26 | pages = 14028–14029 | date = December 2000 | pmid = 11106367 | pmc = 34089 | doi = 10.1073/pnas.011513798| bibcode = 2000PNAS...9714028S | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=How many ants are there for every one person on earth? |url=http://topics.info.com/How-many-ants-are-there-for-every-one-person-on-earth_452 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813234547/http://topics.info.com/How-many-ants-are-there-for-every-one-person-on-earth_452 |archive-date=13 August 2013 |access-date=27 July 2013 |publisher=info.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schultheiss |first1=Patrick |last2=Nooten |first2=Sabine S. |last3=Wang |first3=Runxi |last4=Wong |first4=Mark K. L. |last5=Brassard |first5=François |last6=Guénard |first6=Benoit |date=2022-10-04 |title=The abundance, biomass, and distribution of ants on Earth |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=119 |issue=40 |pages=e2201550119 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2201550119 |doi-access=free |pmid=36122199 |pmc=9546634 |bibcode=2022PNAS..11901550S |s2cid=252381912 |issn=0027-8424}}</ref>

Ants range in size from {{convert|0.75|to(-)|52|mm|sigfig=2}},<ref name = AntsDorylusWilverthaiQueen >Hölldobler & Wilson (1990), p. 589</ref><ref name = OligomyrmexMinor>{{Cite book | author = Shattuck SO | title = Australian ants: their biology and identification | year = 1999 | publisher = CSIRO | location = Collingwood, Vic | isbn = 978-0-643-06659-5 | page = 149 }}</ref> the largest species being the fossil ''[[Titanomyrma|Titanomyrma giganteum]]'', the queen of which was {{convert|6|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} long with a wingspan of {{convert|15|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}}.<ref name="Messel">{{cite journal|journal=Encyclopedia of Life Sciences|author=Schaal, Stephan|date=27 January 2006|doi=10.1038/npg.els.0004143|title=Messel|isbn=978-0-470-01617-6}}</ref> Ants vary in colour; most ants are yellow to red or brown to black, but a few species are green and some tropical species have a metallic [[Lustre (mineralogy)|lustre]]. More than 13,800 species are currently known<ref name=AntWeb>[https://www.antweb.org/statsPage.do AntWeb]</ref> (with upper estimates of the potential existence of about 22,000; see the article [[List of ant genera (alphabetical)|List of ant genera]]), with the greatest diversity in the tropics. Taxonomic studies continue to resolve the classification and systematics of ants. Online databases of ant species, including AntWeb and the Hymenoptera Name Server, help to keep track of the known and newly described species.<ref name=AntWeb/> The relative ease with which ants may be sampled and studied in [[ecosystem]]s has made them useful as [[indicator species]] in [[biodiversity]] studies.<ref>{{cite book | veditors = Agosti D, Majer JD, Alonso JE, Schultz TR | year = 2000 | title = Ants: Standard methods for measuring and monitoring biodiversity | publisher = [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian Institution Press]] | url = http://antbase.org/databases/publications_files/publications_20330.htm | access-date = 2015-12-13 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu/hymenoptera/nomenclator.home_page | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160127143848/http://atbi.biosci.ohio-state.edu/hymenoptera/nomenclator.home_page | url-status = dead | archive-date = 27 January 2016 | title = Hymenoptera name server | publisher  = [[Ohio State University]] | vauthors = Johnson NF | year = 2007 | access-date = 6 July 2008 }}</ref>