History Literature / EmpireOfTheAnts

Not to be confused with (though obviously partly inspired by) the 1905 short story of the same title by Creator/HGWells, in which a species of intelligent and poisonous ant is shown to be slowly taking over South America.

* AGodAmI: A kid communicates with the ants and gets them into some sort of cult, leading them to believe he is their all-knowing god.

* SeriesContinuityError: An ant is described as laughing and doing humor in the first book; the following two ignore this and claim that ants do not know the concept of humor.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: You should not take everything Werber writes at face value. Do you, for example, honestly believe a man could freeze himself to death [[spoiler:just by believing he is in a cold chamber]]? Also the level of intelligence of the ants and other bugs must be taken with a grain of salt.

* AscendedExtra: Edmond Wells doesn't do much in this series, given that he's, well, dead. He does show up and plays a pretty big part in the second book of the Thanatonauts trilogy as an angel, and later as a trainee-god.

* ShoutOut: As noted above, the family's name, to Well's short story.

* ContinuityDrift: An ant is described as laughing and doing humor in the first book; the following two ignore this and claim that ants do not know the concept of humor.

Meanwhile, at a russet ant (''Formica rufa'') colony, a young male ant, 327, finds out that a whole group of ants were instantly killed under mysterious circumstances. He tries to alert the ant colony, but they don't believe him. He decides to go investigate with a princess ant, 56, and a soldier ant, 103 683, at first suspecting the nearby dwarf ant colony, before later suspecting the termites.

* AntWar: Especially the first book, which shows a battle between the ''Formica rufa'' (wood ant - called "russet ant" in the story) colony and the dwarf ants, and later between the ''Formica rufa'' and ''Linepithema humile'' (Argentine ant).

It was adapted into a RealTimeStrategy video game in 2001.

* AntWar: Especially the first book. A battle between the russet ants and the dwarf ants, and later between the ''Formica rufa'' (wood ant) and ''Linepithema humile'' (Argentine ant).

* DevouredByTheHorde: In the first book, a hungry woodpecker and lizard find themselves eaten from the inside out by the Russet ants.

* IAmAHumanitarian: When the human protagonists are stuck in the basement with nothing to eat, one of them decides that they should resort to cannibalism. They then get in a bloodthirsty fight. This also happens with an ant queen who is forced to eat her own eggs so that she has enough energy to lay an egg that can hatch.

* ZergRush: the ants in general of course, but the Dwarve Ants as despicted as being especially good at this, due to them possessing multiple queens in each colony.

Meanwhile, at an ant colony, a young male ant, 327, finds out that a whole group of ants got instantly killed under mysterious reasons. He tries to alert the ant colony, but they don't believe him. He decides to go investigate with a female ant, 16, and a worker ant, 103 683, suspecting the termites.

* AntWar: Especially the first book. A battle between the Russet ants and the Dwarf ants, and later between the ''Formica rufa'' (wood ant) and ''Linepithema humile'' (Argentine ant).

* PoisonIsCorrosive: The Russet Ants have the ability to fire concentrated formic acid from their abdomens, capable of eating through thick exoskeletons in seconds.

* AntWar: Especially the first book. A battle between the ''Formica rufa'' (wood ant) and ''Linepithema humile'' (Argentine ant)

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: You should not take everything Werber writes at face value. Do you, for example, honestly believe a man could freeze himself to death [[spoiler:just by believing he is in a cold chamber]]? Also the level of inteligence of the ants and other bugs must be taken with a grain of salt.

* FamousNamedForeigner: Subverted: the main family is named "Wells", but are French. A character also asks if they are related to Creator/HGWells, the author of a short story also titled "The Empire of the Ants."

* ShoutOut: As noted above, the family's name, to Creator/HGWells and his short story with the same title, which also deals with intelligent ants.
* ShutUpHannibal: 103 683 gets in a fight with an ant who is sick of getting through many dangers just to bring a cocoon to humans. The other ant gets its head chopped off and makes a cynical, TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to 103 683. The latter doesn't care much, and her comrad 23 interrupt the speech by kicking in the head.
* ZergRush: the ants in general of course, but the Dwarve Ants as despicted as being especially good at this, due to them possessing multiple queen on each colony.

* FamousNamedForeigner: Subverted: the main family is named "Wells", but are French. A character also asks if they are related to H.G. Wells, the author of a short story also titled "The Empire of the Ants."

* FamousNamedForeigner: Subverted: the main family is named "Wells", but are French. A character also asks if they are related to H.G. Wells.

'''Empire of the Ants''' (original title: ''Les Fourmis'') is a science-fiction book written by Bernard Werber in 1991. It got a sequel in 1992, and another one in 1996.