| MadSci Network: Zoology |
Some ants do eat insect eggs. I should know, this was a topic for one of my research papers on natural enemies of the eggs of Diaprepes abbreviatus (a weevil that attacks sugar cane, citrus, mangoes, papaya, and many tropical crops and horticultural varieties). In experiments in both Florida and Puerto Rico, I attached weevil egg masses on coffee and citrus plants and watched to see what might attack them. As it turned out several species of small ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae would attack the eggs, working them loose from the cemented clusters and often removing the whole egg mass, one egg at a time (Richman, et al. 1983). While these (and many others) are probably facultative egg predators, Hölldobler and Wilson (1990) note (p. 565) that there a few genera that seem to specialize in egg predation to a large extent. References: Hölldobler, B, and E. O. Wilson. 1990. The Ants. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Richman, D.B., W.F. Buren and W.H. Whitcomb. 1983. Predatory arthropods attacking the eggs of Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) in Puerto Rico and Florida. J. Georgia Entomol. Soc. 18(3):335-342 Admin note: Ants also take quite good care of their own eggs, and do handle them quite a lot. They do, however, generally keep them in their nest. It seems likely to me that the ants you saw were carrying off whatever they had found to bring back to their nest.
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Zoology.