Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
Sources
Argentine Ants
We would like to thank these experts for their scientific support:
- Neil D. Tsutsui
Professor and Abraham E. & Martha M. Michelbacher Chair of Systematic Entomology
Twitter / Instagram: @neiltsutsui
Sources
– Linepithema humile, the Argentine ant.
#Argentine ant, 2018
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_ant
#Genetic diversity, asymmetrical aggression, and recognition in a widespread invasive species, 2003
http://www.pnas.org/content/100/3/1078
#Argentine ants, 2004
https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/argentine-ants/
– This story begins in the floodplains around the Paraná river in South America.
#Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile), 2014
https://cisr.ucr.edu/argentine_ant.html
#Battle of the Ants
Which is the most notorious ant species on earth?, 2014
http://www.bbc.com/earth/bespoke/story/20140908-battle-of-the-ants/index.html
– It measures only 2-3 millimeters in length and with its small mandibles it’s surprising that it survived among its buff competitors.
#Argentine Ants, 2010
https://dpipwe.tas.gov.au/Documents/argentineant.pdf
– Their homes are equally unremarkable. Under logs, in loose leaf litter or the former colonies of other ants.
#Argentine ants, 2004
https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/argentine-ants/
– For every 120 workers there is one queen, laying up to 60 eggs a day.
#Argentine ants destroy beehives, 2016
http://apicultureconference2016.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Argentine-Ants-Destroy-Beehives.pdf
#Evaluation of foraging patterns of linepithema humile (Mayr), the Argentine ant, to improve bait placement in natural park habitats, 2015
– Teams of queens and workers frequently branch out and found new colonies.
#Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile, 2019
https://urbanentomology.tamu.edu/urban-pests/ants/argentine/
#Argentine ant, 2014
http://www.tsusinvasives.org/home/database/linepithema-humile
– As colonies grow and produce a lot of offspring, mutations occur.
#Mutations Are the Raw Materials of Evolution, 2011
– So after a while the ants that left start to compete with their mother colony.
#Intraspecific competition in the ant Camponotus cruentatus: should we expect the ‘dear enemy’ effect?, 2007
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347207002679
– Argentine ants within these colonies are very cooperative and well-organized.
#Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile), 2014
https://cisr.ucr.edu/argentine_ant.html
– They evolved to fight vicious wars against other Argentine ant colonies, as well as against different species of ants.
#Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions, 2010, 210 ff.
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Mark_W_Moffett_Adventures_among_Ants?id=KMdvIKsOJwIC
– With equally strong opponents on every side, the Argentine ant became extremely aggressive, fighting viciously for every inch of ground.
#Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions, 2010, S. 211
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Mark_W_Moffett_Adventures_among_Ants?id=KMdvIKsOJwIC
Additional Info:
#Experience influences aggressive behaviour in the Argentine ant, 2009
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/6/2/152
Argentine Ants actually “learn” to be aggressive.
– We did what humans do and transported things around the world by ship. Argentine ant queens hitched a ride as stowaways.
#Patterns of spread in biological invasions dominated by long-distance jump dispersal: Insights from Argentine ants, 2001
https://www.pnas.org/content/98/3/1095.full
– On top of that, the introduced Argentine ants kill up to 90% of their queens every year. Fewer queens, less genetic variation.
#Queen execution increases relatedness among workers of the invasive Argentine ant, Linepithema humile, 2015
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4588641/
– Cooperating parties, called supercolonies.
#Abandoning Aggression but Maintaining Self-Nonself Discrimination as a First Stage in Ant Supercolony Formation, 2007
#Genetic diversity, asymmetrical aggression, and recognition in a widespread invasive species, 2003
http://www.pnas.org/content/100/3/1078
– Only a few of the 16,000 ant species have evolved supercolonies.
#UTHM Chancellor approves the naming of a new ant species found by UTHM researchers, 2018
#Ants in supercolonies defy evolution, 2012
http://sciencenordic.com/ants-supercolonies-defy-evolution
– Today the Argentine ant inhabits the mediterranean zones of six continents and many islands.
#Distribution and impact of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Mayr), in South Africa,
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/6e9e/63d37d240e638c8d266f2e270a569943cf74.pdf
– This one supercolony was especially successful, establishing sister locations in California, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
...and Hawaii. But we just hadn’t enough space on our map to fit Hawaii in. Sorry, you beautiful island, we did not forget you!
#The global expansion of a single ant supercolony, 2010
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3352483/
– Argentine ants have overrun and replaced 90% of the native ant species, including several species of Californian carpenter ants.
#Trophic ecology of invasive Argentine ants in their native and introduced ranges, 2007
https://www.pnas.org/content/104/52/20856
In this study Argentine ants reduced the number of local ant species in the Californian Rice canyon from 23 in 1996 to merely 2 by 2003.
#Battle of the Ants, 2014
http://www.bbc.com/earth/bespoke/story/20140908-battle-of-the-ants/index.html
#Genetic diversity, asymmetrical aggression, and recognition in a widespread invasive species, 2003
http://www.pnas.org/content/100/3/1078
– Carpenter ant workers are giants, their colonies have only between 3,000 and 6,000 individuals.
#Carpenter ants, 2018
https://extension.umn.edu/insects-infest-homes/carpenter-ants
#Urban pest management of carpenter ants, 1993
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.522.143&rep=rep1&type=pdf
– Argentine ant workers attack by wiping toxic chemicals on their victims.
#Verification of Argentine ant defensive compounds and their behavioral effects on heterospecific competitors and conspecific nestmates, 2018
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-19435-6
– The Argentine ants numbers allow them to hunt down and devour an excessive mass of different insects.
#Ant invaders eat the natives, then move down the food chain, 2007
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/206444
Original study:
#Trophic ecology of invasive Argentine ants in their native and introduced ranges, 2007
https://www.pnas.org/content/104/52/20856
#Argentine Ants in New Zealand: Impacts, 2019
https://argentineants.landcareresearch.co.nz/impacts.asp
#Battle of the Ants, 2014
http://www.bbc.com/earth/bespoke/story/20140908-battle-of-the-ants/index.html
– They forage in dumpsters, bowls of pet food and sneak into kitchens to claim leftovers.
#Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile) Integrated Pest Management Plan, 2019
https://www.pestec.com/knowledge-base/ipm-plans/argentine-ant/
– Argentine ants tend to hordes of aphids as their cattle.
#Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile), 2014
https://cisr.ucr.edu/argentine_ant.html
– Additional super colonies of Argentine ants started their own empires.
#Invasive Ants Territorial . When Neighbors Are Not Kin, 2006
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/archive/newsrel/science/santcolo.asp
– A massive war is going on over a dynamic frontline, stretching over kilometers. An estimated 30 million ants die here each year.
#Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions, 2010
https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Mark_W_Moffett_Adventures_among_Ants?id=KMdvIKsOJwIC
#Invasive Ants Territorial: When Neighbors Are Not Kin, 2006
https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/archive/newsrel/science/santcolo.asp
Cited Study:
#When supercolonies collide: territorial aggression in an invasive and unicolonial social insect, 2006
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03038.x
– Red imported fire ants, which were accidentally introduced from their old home to the coast of Alabama.
#Rate of Spread of the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Texas, 1989
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3672182?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
– Red fire Ants are also able to form supercolonies.
#Red imported fire ant - Solenopsis invicta, retrieved, 2019
#Ants in supercolonies defy evolution, 2012
http://sciencenordic.com/ants-supercolonies-defy-evolution
– The Red imported fire ant exterminated the Argentine ants’ supercolony from much of the southeastern US.
#The diminutive supercolony: the Argentine ants of the southeastern United States, 2004
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15245397
Further reading:
– An ant overview.
#Adventures among Ants: A Global Safari with a Cast of Trillions, 2010
https://www.amazon.de/Adventures-Among-Ants-Global-Trillions/dp/0520261992
– Where do different ant species live?
#Antmaps, retrieved 2019
– By displacing native ants and insects, Argentine ants have even an impact on larger animals, like the horned lizard.
#Battle of the Ants, 2014
http://www.bbc.com/earth/bespoke/story/20140908-battle-of-the-ants/index.html
– Are there other invasive ant species?
100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species 2013, retrieved 2018