Formicidae
E13817
Formicidae is the biological family comprising all ant species, known for their complex social organization and widespread ecological impact.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Formicidae canonical | 87 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T123737 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Formicidae Context triple: [The Insect Societies, focusesOnTaxon, Formicidae]
-
A.
Mimidae
Mimidae is a family of passerine birds known for their vocal mimicry, including mockingbirds, thrashers, and catbirds.
-
B.
The Insect Societies
The Insect Societies is a landmark scientific book by E.O. Wilson that systematically examines the behavior, social organization, and evolution of social insects such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites.
-
C.
Odontophoridae
Odontophoridae is a family of New World quails, small ground-dwelling game birds known for their rounded bodies, short tails, and often elaborate head plumes.
-
D.
The Ants
The Ants is a Pulitzer Prize–winning scientific book that provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of ant biology, behavior, and social organization.
-
E.
Bert Hölldobler
Bert Hölldobler is a German behavioral biologist and myrmecologist renowned for his pioneering research on ant societies and social insects.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Formicidae Target entity description: Formicidae is the biological family comprising all ant species, known for their complex social organization and widespread ecological impact.
-
A.
Mimidae
Mimidae is a family of passerine birds known for their vocal mimicry, including mockingbirds, thrashers, and catbirds.
-
B.
The Insect Societies
The Insect Societies is a landmark scientific book by E.O. Wilson that systematically examines the behavior, social organization, and evolution of social insects such as ants, bees, wasps, and termites.
-
C.
Odontophoridae
Odontophoridae is a family of New World quails, small ground-dwelling game birds known for their rounded bodies, short tails, and often elaborate head plumes.
-
D.
The Ants
The Ants is a Pulitzer Prize–winning scientific book that provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview of ant biology, behavior, and social organization.
-
E.
Bert Hölldobler
Bert Hölldobler is a German behavioral biologist and myrmecologist renowned for his pioneering research on ant societies and social insects.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (86)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
biological family
ⓘ
taxon ⓘ |
| biomassContribution | significant fraction of terrestrial animal biomass ⓘ |
| class | Insecta ⓘ |
| colonyFoundation |
budding from existing colonies
ⓘ
independent founding by single queen ⓘ |
| commonName | ants ⓘ |
| communicationMethod |
acoustic signals
ⓘ
pheromones ⓘ tactile signals ⓘ |
| containsSpecies |
Atta cephalotes
ⓘ
Camponotus pennsylvanicus ⓘ Formica rufa ⓘ Lasius niger ⓘ Linepithema humile ⓘ Solenopsis invicta ⓘ |
| containsSubtaxon |
Dolichoderinae
ⓘ
Dorylinae ⓘ Formicinae ⓘ Myrmeciinae ⓘ Myrmicinae ⓘ Ponerinae ⓘ |
| describedBy | Pierre André Latreille ⓘ |
| diet |
omnivorous
ⓘ
predatory ⓘ scavenging ⓘ |
| distribution | worldwide ⓘ |
| ecologicalRole |
decomposer
ⓘ
mutualist with aphids and other Hemiptera ⓘ mutualist with plants ⓘ predator of arthropods ⓘ seed disperser ⓘ soil aerator ⓘ |
| estimatedSpeciesCount |
many thousands of undescribed species
ⓘ
over 12000 described species ⓘ |
| foundOnContinent |
Africa
ⓘ
Antarctica coastal regions ⓘ Asia ⓘ Australia ⓘ Europe ⓘ North America ⓘ South America ⓘ |
| habitat |
deserts
ⓘ
forests ⓘ grasslands ⓘ terrestrial ecosystems ⓘ urban environments ⓘ |
| hasCaste |
alate male
ⓘ
nonreproductive worker ⓘ reproductive queen ⓘ soldier ⓘ |
| hasCharacteristic |
complex social organization
ⓘ
cooperative brood care ⓘ division of labor ⓘ eusocial behavior ⓘ metamorphosis with egg larva pupa adult stages ⓘ overlapping generations ⓘ |
| hasImpact |
agricultural pest in some species
ⓘ
beneficial biological control agent in some species ⓘ important ecosystem engineer ⓘ |
| higherClassification | Hymenoptera ⓘ |
| infraorder | Aculeata ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| morphologicalFeature |
chewing mouthparts
ⓘ
constricted waist with petiole ⓘ elbowed antennae ⓘ metapleural glands ⓘ often wingless workers ⓘ |
| notableBehavior |
cooperative foraging
ⓘ
nest building ⓘ territorial defense ⓘ trail following ⓘ |
| order | Hymenoptera ⓘ |
| phylum | Arthropoda ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Mutillidae
ⓘ
Vespidae ⓘ |
| reproduction |
mating of winged queens and males
ⓘ
nuptial flight ⓘ |
| suborder | Apocrita ⓘ |
| subphylum | Hexapoda ⓘ |
| superfamily | Vespoidea ⓘ |
| taxonRank | family ⓘ |
| typicalColonyMembers |
males
ⓘ
queen ⓘ workers ⓘ |
| yearDescribed | 1809 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Formicidae Description of subject: Formicidae is the biological family comprising all ant species, known for their complex social organization and widespread ecological impact.
Referenced by (87)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.