US EditionParasitic Ants Use Chemical Weapons to Force Workers to Kill Their Own Queen
- On November 17, researchers reported in Current Biology that parasitic queens Lasius orientalis and Lasius umbratus cause host workers to kill their own queen in invaded colonies.
- Because ants depend on scent for recognition, parasitic queens acquire nestmate odour by rubbing host workers, allowing the invading queen to enter the colony undetected, researchers reported.
- In one experiment a Lasius orientalis queen sprayed her victim 16 times in 20 hours, escalating attacks until workers dismembered their queen after four days; the invader laid eggs after about 10 days.
- After matricide the invader assumes the throne, the parasitic queen is accepted and lays eggs tended by host workers, and about 3,000 workers emerge within about one year; researchers reported this lowers risk during the founding phase.
- Researchers suspect the strategy may be more widespread; citizen scientist Taku Shimada first posted the observation in 2021, and the team reported it Monday, marking a first documented case of third-party matricide.
65 Articles
65 Articles
A new study shows how it is possible for a single ant to conquer an entire stack from another species.
Parasitic matricide, ants chemically compel host workers to kill their own queen
Researchers report on how two species of parasitic ants—Lasius orientalis and Lasius umbratus—invade and overtake a host ant colony. In both cases, the parasitic ant queen invades the nest and sprays the host colony queen with what is likely formic acid. This manipulates the host colony worker ants to attack and execute their own queen.
‘Bad-smell’ ants trick other species into killing their own mother in dramatic display of matricide in nature
Dramatic death scenes involving daughters tricked into killing their own mothers is “an example of nature going beyond what we’ve seen in fiction,” according to just-published entomology research.
Daily Journal
Research reveals ants use ‘chemical warfare’ to kill their queens
They explained that in the ruthless world of parasitic ants, taking over a host colony is a matter of life and death.
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