Tag Archives: Ants

Fermenting milk to make yogurt, cheeses, or kefir is an ancient practice, and different cultures have their own traditional methods, often preserved in oral histories. The forests of Bulgaria and Turkey have an abundance of red wood ants, for instance, so a time-honored Bulgarian yogurt-making practice involves dropping a few live ants (or crushed-up ant eggs) into the milk to …

It’s a stark demonstration of nature at its most devious: researchers have discovered a plant that attracts pollinating flies by mimicking the odour of half-eaten ants. The species of dogbane is the first plant known to boost its chances of reproducing by copying the scent that ants release as an alarm call to their nestmates when they come under attack …

Ants that seem to defy biology – they lay eggs that hatch into another species  Hacker News These Ants Found a Loophole for a Fundamental Rule of Life  The New York Times ‘Almost like science fiction’: European ant is the first known animal to clone members of another species  Live Science Scientists Found a Creature That Shockingly Gives Birth to 2 Different Species  Popular …

These Ants Found a Loophole for a Fundamental Rule of Life  The New York Times Ant queen gives birth to two different species  CNN ‘Almost like science fiction’: European ant is the first known animal to clone members of another species  Live Science Scientists Found a Creature That Shockingly Gives Birth to 2 Different Species  Popular Mechanics Everything You Need To Know About The …

This month, there’s one story on everybody’s minds. I’m speaking, of course, about the Iberian harvester ant queens who can clone ants of an entirely different species to breed a subaltern army of hybrid ants whose only purpose is to serve them. If you, too, have been transfixed by their story and are eager to learn more about these ants’ …

Reproduction in the animal world is all kinds of freaky, from penis jousting to mammals laying eggs, there seems to be just about every method going. However, one thing that is not common is females of one species being able to produce offspring of another, but that’s exactly what has been discovered in Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus). The rest …

Darwin, C. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (J. Murray, 1859). Mayr, E. Systematics and the Origin of Species, from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist (Columbia Univ. Press, 1942). Lehtonen, J., Schmidt, D. J., Heubel, K. & Kokko, H. Evolutionary and ecological implications of sexual …

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species. These queen Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) are sexual parasites that rely on the sperm of males of the ant species Messor structor. They use this sperm to breed an army of robust worker ants, …

Insects are more influential than we realize By showing that ant- and termite-based diets evolved repeatedly, the study highlights the overlooked role of social insects in shaping biodiversity. “This work gives us the first real roadmap, and what really stands out is just how powerful a selective force ants and termites have been over the last 50 million years, shaping …

Spotting ants around your property is bound to happen from time to time, but seeing an abundance of ants? There might be a colony that’s invited themselves to move in with you. Finding an overwhelming amount of ants in or around certain areas of your yard might mean there’s a source nearby calling their name. Ants are known to flock …