Animals

Ants Form Global Mega-Colony

posted: 01 July 2009 08:21 pm ET

: Argentine ants fighting. These ants are though to have come to the United States from Argentina aboard ships in the 1890s. Credit: Marc Dantzker
: The Argentine ant smells with its antennae and attacks prey and other ants by swarming its prey using its mandibles to grip the prey (often by each of its legs) to pull they prey down or apart. So the large native ants have a small argie ant pulling at each of its legs until it falls and is pulled apart. Credit: Antweb.org
: Argentine ants attack a much larger harvester ant. Credit Â© Alex Wild

Argentine ants are hyper-aggressive. They'll take on and destroy ants many times their size. They're also hyper-invasive. They've nearly wiped out native ants in California.

Now scientists say the invasive creatures form a mega-colony that spans Europe, the United States and Japan. Apparently when they get together for family reunions (simulated in a lab), the far-flung members of this highly territorial species still get along.

Learn more in Why Ants Rule, and see our gallery, Ants of the World.

Read full story at The BBC

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