apothecary Posted July 2, 2009 "Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we've just lost the picture, but what we've seen speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over -- 'conquered' if you will -- by a master race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves." http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/...000/8127519.stm A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same interrelated colony, and will refuse to fight one another. The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination. What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together. Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) were once native to South America. But people have unintentionally introduced the ants to all continents except Antarctica. These introduced Argentine ants are renowned for forming large colonies, and for becoming a significant pest, attacking native animals and crops. In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the 'Californian large', extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan. While ants are usually highly territorial, those living within each super-colony are tolerant of one another, even if they live tens or hundreds of kilometres apart. Each super-colony, however, was thought to be quite distinct. But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony. Researchers in Japan and Spain led by Eiriki Sunamura of the University of Tokyo found that Argentine ants living in Europe, Japan and California shared a strikingly similar chemical profile of hydrocarbons on their cuticles. But further experiments revealed the true extent of the insects' global ambition. The team selected wild ants from the main European super-colony, from another smaller one called the Catalonian super-colony which lives on the Iberian coast, the Californian super-colony and from the super-colony in west Japan, as well as another in Kobe, Japan. They then matched up the ants in a series of one-on-one tests to see how aggressive individuals from different colonies would be to one another. Ants from the smaller super-colonies were always aggressive to one another. So ants from the west coast of Japan fought their rivals from Kobe, while ants from the European super-colony didn't get on with those from the Iberian colony. One big family But whenever ants from the main European and Californian super-colonies and those from the largest colony in Japan came into contact, they acted as if they were old friends. These ants rubbed antennae with one another and never became aggressive or tried to avoid one another. In short, they acted as if they all belonged to the same colony, despite living on different continents separated by vast oceans. The most plausible explanation is that ants from these three super-colonies are indeed family, and are all genetically related, say the researchers. When they come into contact, they recognise each other by the chemical composition of their cuticles. "The enormous extent of this population is paralleled only by human society," the researchers write in the journal Insect Sociaux, in which they report their findings. However, the irony is that it is us who likely created the ant mega-colony by initially transporting the insects around the world, and by continually introducing ants from the three continents to each other, ensuring the mega-colony continues to mingle. "Humans created this great non-aggressive ant population," the researchers write. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chiral Posted July 2, 2009 I can remember when I was a kid there was cash rewards being offered for the location of Argentine ants nests...I actually found a beauty and went up to the pharmacy and told the pharmacist...at the time he was the one who was dealing with this...don't ask me why...anyways I showed him the nest and collected my $35..I was like 8-9 yrs old and was stoked. I haven't ever heard or seen any such irradication campaigns since...maybe they had talks with the chief ants and came to some agreement..."you leaves us ants alone and we wont crawl out and collect all you dumb ass humans and make you work in our sugar mines". Oh and the Simpsons quote nice touch... H. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rabelais Posted July 2, 2009 Argentine ant problem here also. Over summer months they are brutal. I usually attack them with Ant-Rid over warmer months and that seems to keep them at bay for a few weeks...but they always come back. I think the problem also is that when a new colony starts, the new queens do not fly away to start a new colony because they do not have wings, they just stroll a few meters away and setup a new nest, and as the article stated, they do not fight amongst each other. One of those things you despise and admire at the same time... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
