Tag

Ants

All articles tagged with #ants

science5 days ago•1 min saved

Genomic 'Jumping Genes' Explain Ant Explosion After Dinosaur Extinction

A new study reveals that transposable elements, or 'jumping genes,' drove the rapid diversification of ants following the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event. By analyzing 163 ant species, researchers found that lineages with high levels of these mobile DNA sequences evolved into the most species-rich groups today. This genomic mechanism allowed ants to thrive in the ecological vacuum left by the asteroid impact 66 million years ago, enhancing their chemical communication and social structures.

via BBC Wildlife Magazine|

#ants #biodiversity #evolution

science20 days ago•6 min saved

Ants Carry Wasps’ Oak Galls, Not Seeds, Revealing a Hidden Plant-Insect Pact

An 8-year-old in Pennsylvania spotted ants carrying pale objects he thought were seeds; they were actually oak galls formed by wasps on red oaks. The galls have a cap rich in fatty acids that mimic seed elaiosomes, prompting ants to haul them to their nests, eat the cap, and leave the wasp larva inside. This three‑way interaction (ant–oak–wasp) shows a wasp hijacking a plant signal for its own propagation and reframes the classic seed-dispersal story as an exploitation, with galls common across eastern U.S. oaks.

via Futura, le média qui explore le monde|

#ants #myrmecochory #oak-galls

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Ant Bursts Reveal Leaderless Synchronization in Colonies

Researchers have developed a mathematical model showing that ant colonies can rapidly synchronize bursts of activity without a designated leader once speed, density, and interaction range cross a critical threshold. Ants switch among active, inactive, and refractory states, and bursts arise when social contagion spreads much faster than the overall activity cycle. The work, which aligns with prior views of ants as neural-like networks, emphasizes two key ingredients: sensitivity to a single ant's activity and rapid propagation of that activity. While the model cannot predict exact timing, experiments are underway to validate it and to explore how close real colonies operate to this transition and what bursts mean for information transfer, movement, and energy use.

via ScienceAlert|

#ants #collective-behavior #mathematical-model

science2 months ago•1 min saved

Europe’s 6,000-km Ant Megapolis: The World’s Largest Invasive Supercolony

The Argentine ant Linepithema humile forms vast, interconnected supercolonies that stretch along 6,000 km of Europe’s coast (Portugal to Italy), housing millions of nests and billions of workers, with urban-like features such as ventilation, food storage, nurseries, toilets and highways, illustrating how an invasive species can organize into a city-scale ecosystem.

via BBC Wildlife Magazine|

#ants #ecology #invasive-species

science2 months ago•5 min saved

Tapeworm Extends Ant Lifespan and Rewrites Social Roles

A tapeworm parasite (Anomotaenia brevis) infects Temnothorax nylanderi ants via woodpecker droppings, causing infected workers to live up to ten times longer and be treated like queens by nestmates. The study reports queen-like changes in metabolism, immune function, and aging in the ants’ fat bodies, while brain signals don’t resemble the parasite’s peptides, suggesting the parasite influences host regulation rather than directly hijacking the brain. These findings, from gene-expression analyses of infected, uninfected, and queen ants, shed light on how infection alters physiology and social behavior; the lifecycle continues when birds ingest the infected ants.

via ScienceAlert|

#ants #gene-expression #parasites

world2 months ago•194 min saved

Ant-Infused Sherbet Could Put Korea’s Two-Michelin Star Owner Behind Bars

Prosecutors in Seoul say the owner of a two-Michelin-starred restaurant garnished sherbet with dried ants imported from the US and Thailand, a practice tied to heavy metals found up to 55 times the legal limit. The restaurant allegedly served about 49,000 ants in 12,200 desserts. The owner faces up to a year in prison and a fine of 20 million won, with a verdict due in September, highlighting Korea’s strict insect-food regulations that limit which insects can be eaten.

via CNN|

#ants #edible-insects #food-sanitation-act

science3 months ago•100 min saved

Ancient feeding signals steer alloparenting in clonal raider ants

In clonal raider ants, ancient feeding-related neuropeptides NPF and AstA regulate alloparental brood care; NPF promotes nursing in young workers while AstA reduces it, with brain peptide levels shifting with age and nutrition. A pharmacological screen, peptide injections, and RNAi experiments show that altering the NPF–AstA balance recapitulates age- and diet–driven changes in brood care, suggesting that a conserved feeding-regulation network has been co-opted to control social caregiving and division of labor, in parallel with insulin/JH signaling and with echoes in vertebrate parental care.

via Nature|

#ants #asta #brood-care

science4 months ago•12 min saved

Ants: 20 Quadrillion Individuals, Biomass Roughly One-Fifth of Humans and Larger Than Birds and Mammals

A 2022 PNAS-derived estimate puts Earth's ant population at about 20 quadrillion (2×10¹⁶), yielding roughly 12 megatons of dry carbon in biomass (about 24 Mt total when including other elements), or about one-fifth of human biomass. Even with this conservative figure, ants outweigh the combined biomass of all wild birds and wild mammals and underscore their outsized ecological role, while providing a global baseline for future insect abundance and biodiversity research.

via Space Daily|

#ants #biomass #ecology

science4 months ago•2 min saved

Social-Parasite Ant Produces All-Queen Offspring

Temnothorax kinomurai invades nests of its relative T. makora, replacing the host queen while workers continue tending the nest; the parasite’s queens reproduce parthenogenetically, producing only queen offspring in both lab (six colonies yielding 43 offspring) and field (seven successful invasions yielding 57 offspring). The study, published in Current Biology on Feb 23, 2026, notes the all-queen strategy is rare and geographically limited to nine locations in Japan.

via DOGO News|

#ants #parthenogenesis #queen-reproduction

science5 months ago•34 min saved

Backyard Discovery Suggests Ants Disperse Oak Galls, Not Just Seeds

Penn State and SUNY researchers, sparked by an 8-year-old’s backyard observation, report that oak galls formed by gall wasps can be collected and carried by ants just like seeds. The study reveals a three-way interaction among ants, oaks, and wasps, with the kapéllo cap on galls releasing free fatty acids similar to seed elaiosomes, attracting ants to disperse the galls. This finding broadens our understanding of forest biodiversity and overlooked ecological interactions.

via Yahoo|

#ants #biodiversity #gall-wasps

science5 months ago•7 min saved

Backyard Clue Reveals Wasps Hijacking Ants to Move Oak Galls

An 8-year-old’s backyard find of oak galls revealed a new twist on seed dispersal: the galls produce a detachable cap, called kapéllo, that emits fatty-acid signals identical to plant elaiosomes, luring ants to carry the galls underground where the wasp larvae are protected; researchers say this convergent evolution shows ants, wasps, and oaks have a hidden, ecosystem-wide interaction with potential implications for nutrient and pathogen movement in forests.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#ants #kapello #myrmecochory

science5 months ago•41 min saved

Backyard discovery rewrites biology: ants, wasps, and oaks reveal a hidden alliance

Eight-year-old Hugo Deans spotted BB-sized galls near an ant nest in his backyard, prompting researchers to test whether ants disperse galls the way they disperse seeds. Field and lab experiments showed ants are drawn to the galls' kapéllo caps, which carry fatty acids similar to seed elaiosomes, revealing a three-way interaction among oaks, cynipid wasps, and ants. The result suggests ants can transport galls, highlighting a nuanced signaling network in nature and potentially upending textbook views of plant–insect relationships and forest dynamics.

via Earth.com|

#ants #galls #oak-trees

science5 months ago•3 min saved

Tiny Ants, Big Ants: A Surprising Mutual Grooming Bond in Arizona

Researchers in southeastern Arizona documented an unprecedented interaction where small cone ants climb onto much larger harvester ants to lick and nibble their bodies, including inside open jaws. The grooming may benefit both species—cone ants could feed on tiny particles removed, while harvester ants gain cleaning in hard-to-reach areas. This first-recorded behavior, likened to cleaner fish in the ocean, was observed by Mark Moffett and described in Ecology and Evolution, highlighting how much remains to be learned from natural interactions.

via SciTechDaily|

#ants #arizona #ecology

science5 months ago•7 min saved

Caffeine sharpens invasive ants, offering new pest-control options

A new study finds caffeine-influenced Argentine ants learn faster and take straighter routes to sugar rewards, reducing foraging time by up to 38% at intermediate caffeine doses without increasing speed. This could enhance bait effectiveness for pest control, but field tests and safety assessments are still needed.

via ScienceDaily|

#ants #caffeine #invasive-species

africa5 months ago•6 min saved

Kenya jails Chinese national for smuggling live ants to China

A Chinese national, Zhang Kequn, was sentenced to one year in prison and fined 1 million Kenyan shillings for attempting to smuggle over 2,000 live queen garden ants out of Kenya to China; he pleaded guilty after initially denying the charges, as authorities warn of rising wildlife trafficking and the high value of the ants (about $220 each), with repatriation to his home country after serving the sentence and a possible appeal.

via BBC|

#africa #ants #china