When it comes to defending the nest, ants have developed a lot of unique (and painful) ways to stop their enemies. But undoubtedly this strange new species of newly discovered “exploding ant” (Colobopsis explodens ) takes the cake. Experts discovered this new species in the rainforests of Borneo.
Among the countless fascinating plants and animals that inhabit the tropical rainforests of Southeast Asia are the spectacular “blast ants” , a group of tree ants that exhibit unique defensive behavior.
During territorial combat, these tree-dwelling ants cling to their enemies, opening their own entrails, and spilling a yellow toxic substance on their adversaries to kill them or at least slow down their attack.
The new species joins more than a dozen species of “explosive ants” so far discovered, although this one is particularly curious.
And despite this “explosion”, let’s not think that it is like a bomb, because it represents the end of the road for the defender ant: it is a sacrifice; as if it were a bee.
This “suicide defense” is only common in social insects , such as ants, bees, and termites. Unlike other animals, these hyper-social insects are happy not to mate or even live if it means the rest of the community survives and flourishes.
“An ant colony should not be treated as a family of individuals, but rather as a superorganism, and each ant acts more like a cell in the body and has its own role to play,” said Alice Laciny, co-author of the work published in the Zookeys magazine.
This aspect is particularly true of this new species of ant. Only minor workers of this species have the ability to kill their adversaries by exploding their insides.
The warrior ants, with their bulky and oversized heads (with a curious plug shape), have a different role to play in the colony.
“The entrance to their nest is a small hole, exactly the same diameter as the head of the warrior ants ,” Laciny said. “So they really just poke their heads into the hole and plug it up, so nothing can get in. These ants are more like passive resistance.”
These exploding ants play a dominant role in rainforests, and their biology still holds a number of secrets. Observations and experiments carried out on the recently described species have laid an important foundation for future research that will uncover even more details about these enigmatic explosive insects.
Citation: Laciny A, Zettel H, Kopchinskiy A, Pretzer C, Pal A, Salim KA, Rahimi MJ, Hoenigsberger M, Lim L, Jaitrong W, Druzhinina IS (2018) Colobopsis explodens sp. n., model species for studies on “exploding ants” (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), with biological notes and first illustrations of males of the Colobopsis cylindrica group. ZooKeys 751: 1-40. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.751.22661
Image credit: Alexey Kopchinskiy
