Recording Breaking Speed: World’s Fastest Ant Clocked at 855mm/s, an Incredible 47 Strides/s
Saharan Silver Ants Are World’s Fastest Ants According to Noël Coward, mad dogs and Englishmen are the only creatures that go out in the midday…
Ants News
Ants Fight Plant Diseases by Secreting Antibiotics – Potential for Use in Agriculture
New research from Aarhus University shows that ants inhibit at least 14 different plant diseases. The small insects secrete antibiotics from glands in the body….
The Unexpected Role Ant-Plant Partnerships May Play in Ant Evolution
Partnerships between ant and plant species appear to arise from—but not drive—the rapid diversification of ants into new species. Katrina Kaur of the University of…
Ants Help Researchers Understand Why Biodiversity is Higher in Tropical Regions
It’s a puzzle that has confounded biologists for centuries: the earth’s tropical regions are home to an enormous variety of plant and animal species, but…
Wood Ants Survive for Years Trapped in a Nuclear Weapons Bunker
Having built their nest over the vertical ventilation pipe of an old nuclear weapon bunker in Poland, every year a large number of wood ants…
Tiny Dracula Ants: New Species of Subterranean Hunters
Six new species of subterranean ants from the genus Prionopelta have been discovered in Madagascar and the islands of Seychelles. Dubbed Dracula ants by these…
Zombie-Ant Fungus Faces Its Own Deadly, Specialized Parasites
The zombie-ant fungus is part of the Ophiocordyceps genus, and its strange way of infecting worker ants’ heads and controlling them to distribute more spores…
Hyperparasite Fungus Limits the Effects of ‘Zombie-Ant’ Fungus
New research on a parasite that fights zombie-ant fungus, an infestation that takes over the brain and then ejects its spores out of the ant’s…
Desert Ants Need Very Few Landmarks for Orientation
While studying desert ants, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology discovered that ants were able to use magnetism and vibrational signals in…
Ant Poison Paralyzes Prey from a Distance
Ant-nest invaders are in for a shock when they mess with the African ant species Crematogaster striatula. These ants have venom so potent that it…
Orb Spiders Have Toxic Burglar Alarms To Protect Against Web Invasion
Humans have all kinds of security to protect our homes, whether it is an advanced home security system, a barking dog, or just a motion-activated…
