Will An Ant Mega-Colony Rule The Planet?

Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:32 am » by **Marduk2012**

Ant Mega-Colony Takes Over The World

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 inter-related 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.

The enormous extent of this population is paralleled only by human society!

Entomologists reveal the ant colony's true size

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.

Ant-Hive

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.

Three Argentine ants prepare to dismember a native.

MAF Biosecurity's website says Argentine ants are listed by the World Conservation Union as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species. "They produce multiple queens and can form huge super-colonies that extend for thousands of kilometres," it says.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_intelligence
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_ne ... 127519.stm
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10582786

Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:41 am » by **Biledriver**

Hey....maybe humans could take a lesson from these little guys in tolerating each other, no matter where we're from. Imagine that eh

Peace

Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:47 am » by **Lucidlemondrop**

Question is though are they cooperating to survive or conquer?

Or is there a difference?

Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:47 am » by **end0fall**

wow they are like a miniture alien species,anyone reckon they are gonna step up to take the throne once king human loses his crown through death? lol

Mon Jul 06, 2009 4:33 am » by **Crazynutsx**

Poor some water on them and watch them float away

Who else has ever tipped water into a nest and watch millions of ants come out tis cool

Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:22 am » by **Warngen**

ive actually noticed the fire-ant beds around my small pond have nearly vanished!!?
not 1 month ago they were nested up all over the place.....couldnt even pick out of the veggie garden without being stung by fire ants.. :shooting:

Mon Jul 06, 2009 7:23 am » by **Warngen**

ive actually noticed the fire-ant beds around my small pond have nearly vanished!!?
not 1 month ago they were nested up all over the place.....couldnt even pick out of the veggie garden without being stung by fire ants.. :shooting: