How a small group of California ants are challenging the global Argentine ant empire

For those of you maintain caterpillar tread at abode ( I know you ’re out there ) , you’re able to now add together “ chemical warfare ” to the list of things that pismire complain ass at .

When faced with intrusion by the notoriously destructive Argentine emmet , an unassuming species of wintertime ant native to California has managed to stand its ground in the face of a heretofore - unstoppable foeman . What is the wintertime ant ’s secret ? A lethal toxin secrete from its abdomen that it only release under dire circumstance .

The discovery was made last summer by a grouping of Stanford University undergraduates work out on a course of study labor under biota prof Deborah M. Gordon .

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“ I did not believe it at first , ” say Dr. Gordon . “ This [ native species ] is a group of ant that does not have a bunko game and you do n’t see them represent aggressively , but the students were able to show very clearly not just that the wintertime ants are using poison , but when they utilize it , how they apply it , and what the impact is . ”

To call that wallop meaning would be a fleck of an understatement . Historically speaking , the Argentine emmet is a more or less unstoppable force play ; although it is native to South America , it has managed to unfold to lands as far and broad as Australia , Japan , Hawaii , and Easter Island ( to name a few ) , often leaving whole ecosystems devastated . But California ’s native winter ant has managed to challenge the Argentine horde , killing them in drove with their unequalled brand of toxic implements of war . “ This is the first well - documented case where a native species is successfully refuse the Argentine ant , ” say Dr. Gordon .

Many of the students in her class helped co - author a paper with Dr. Gordon , which was publish in the April , 2011 issue of PLoS ONE .

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