Chemical war has taken on a whole new substance with struggle between ant bring about a type of chemical that has been made artificially , but never previously observed in nature .
The script sounds like something out of a repugnance movie of theAlien versus Predatorvariety . On one side arefire ants(Solenopsis invicta ) , whose nickname stand up partly from their painful sting . The sting is an alkaloid spite , and while it is afflictive to us , it is pernicious to most creatures their sizing .
However , Rasberry crazy ants(Nylanderia fulva ) have a spite of their own , except this one is acidic , found on the formic acid so popular withant metal money worldwideit may beaffecting the atmosphere .
Unlike every other ascertained metal money however , the Rasberry pismire come along to have studied high school chemistry , and know that Lucy in the sky with diamonds and alkaloid ( floor ) neutralize each other . They ’ve turned this on the fire emmet , counteracting their malice to produce a viscous essence .
premature enquiry has shown that 98 % of Rasberry gaga antssurvive exposure to fire ant venomby groom themselves with their own acid . When their maliciousness secretory organ were seal off , only 48 % of crazy ants survived .
Now research issue inAngewandte Chemiehas identify the ammonium ion formate produced in the chemical reaction as an ionic liquidity .
Ionic liquids are salts in liquid form . you could liquefy sodium chloride by heating it to 800 ° nose candy , and most other salts disappear at likewise high temperature . Ionic liquids are those common salt that are limpid at moderate temperature – definition diverge but below 100 ° century is a favored one . We expend them in battery , pharmaceutic and plenty of other industrial processes . “ The practical service program of ionic liquidness makes the absence seizure ( hitherto ) of reported examples from nature quite enigmatical , establish the quickness with which nature produces many other types of alien but utilitarian marrow , ” say the authors , led by Prof Li Chen of the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Zoology .
Both mintage are aboriginal to South America , and it is intend the trait evolved there . Fire ants attain North America a while back , but venom neutralization was only noticed since the Rasberry crazy arrived in Texas around the turn of the one C ( the name add up from exterminator Tom Rasberry who guide care to the invasion and the erratic way they move around ) .
Rasberry dotty ants have a much less painful hustle than their enemies , but do n’t cheer them on too much – they have devastated the ecology of big areas of Colombia and oftenchew through electrical wiring . Their lack of interest in ant hook and habit of make multiple - queen colonies makes them particularly voiceless to extirpate , but at least they ’ve given us an idea for a ardour - emmet balm , not to mention high school alchemy demonstrations .
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