Thursday, July 2, 2009

Ant mega-colony takes over world

Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News

Queen and worker Argentine ant (Linepithema humile)
A queen and worker Argentine ant have many, many relatives

A single mega-colony of ants has colonised much of the world, scientists have discovered.

(BBC) Argentine ants living in vast numbers across Europe, the US and Japan belong to the same inter-related colony, and will refuse to fight one another.

The colony may be the largest of its type ever known for any insect species, and could rival humans in the scale of its world domination.

What's more, people are unwittingly helping the mega-colony stick together...

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