18 LUMEN | PROGRAMMES
Ants-Men
Founded just this year , the Entomology Club is the first of its kind in Singapore . With an increasing trend of ant keeping hobbyists in Singapore , SJI has become a pioneer in the Singapore antkeeping scene among secondary and tertiary students . So how did it all start ? Aaron Johansen recounts his experiences setting up and maintaining the Entomology CAS Club .
One day , we noticed a trail of ants , distinctively large and small , walking across the pavement next to the field ( near the ISH PE store ). We were intrigued as the large ants as well as the small ants seemed to be working together , and were actually part of the same colony . We found that this species of ants , commonly known as Asian Marauder ants ( C . diversa ), has large supermajors that can crush up food or defend the nest using their large jaws . We even captured a picture of a supermajor giving her sisters a piggyback ride !
Ants are commonly thought of as pests and people cannot wait to get rid of them . However , these insects actually play a vital role as the “ rubbish cleaners ” of nature , often being the ones to clean up the bodies of dead insects . In the entomology club , we hope to raise awareness on the importance of insects in the ecosystem .
As one of our club activities , we keep ant colonies for observation in the Science Labs . We start these colonies from fertilised queens caught on their nuptial ( mating ) flights , and design creative setups to house the ant colonies . Additionally , we have a substantial collection of preserved insect specimens that we have