Crazy ants rely on secret weapon in war against fire ants: research
Crazy ants rely on secret weapon in war against fire ants: research
By Planetsave
Sunday, February 16, 2014 9:06 EST
Via Planetsave. By: Nathan
The highly invasive species of ants commonly known as ‘crazy ants’ have been spreading rapidly throughout the US southwest in recent years, generally displacing the larger and more-venomous fire ants. The reasons for this somewhat strange changing of the guard have been something of a mystery — how does the larger, more venomous species lose?
Well, according to new research from the University of Texas at Austin, the answer is clear — their offense is completely neutralized. The crazy ants produce a compound that they can secrete at will to completely neutralize fire ant venom — this is the first known case of an insect species that can detoxify the venom of another insect species.
The crazy ant invasion is just the latest wave of the ant invasions that have become common in the globalized world — the US has seen many species from the highly competitive (for ants) environments of the South American continent come and displace native species over the past 100-200 years. But at first glance it’s hard to see why the relatively small crazy ant species is so successful against a species like the fire ant. Is it simply higher population/growth numbers?
While that may be part of it, as this new research shows, there is quite a bit more to it — the crazy ants have apparently evolved specifically for combat against other ant species, and as a result have a number of significant advantages against other species.
More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/16/crazy-ants-rely-on-secret-weapon-in-war-against-fire-ants-research/
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