posted on August 12, 2004 04:35:52 PM new
Here is something to make you wonder if the ants can get along in one happy supercolony, then why can't humans get along?
Ants Form Supercolony Spanning 60 Miles
AP News:
MELBOURNE, Australia - Normally clannish and agressive Argentine ants have become so laid back since arriving in Australia decades ago that they no longer fight neighboring nests and have formed a supercolony here that spans 60 miles, scientists say.
The huge colony stretches under the southern Australian city of Melbourne.
Argentine ants are not harmful to humans, but have been known to displace native plants and animals.
"In Argentina, their native homeland, ant colonies span tens of meters, are genetically diverse and highly aggressive towards one another," Monash University researcher Elissa Suhr said in a statement this week. "So, population numbers never explode and they are no threat to other plants and animals."
However, Suhr said the genetic structure of Argentine ants here has changed since they first arrived in 1939, making them less aggressive and more likely to mate with ants from neighboring nests.
"Now they're uncolonial ... and the ants from different nests are not aggressive towards one another. So that enables them to grow into an absolutely enormous colony that covers the whole city," Suhr told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio late Wednesday.
Suhr said the Argentine ants could even displace native species by taking over local habitats and preying on insects commonly eaten by Australian ants.
Australia is not the only country to be invaded by the Argentine ants, Suhr said.
"In California, they have displaced native ants, decreased the diversity of other native insects, affected the dispersal of seeds and even decreased lizard numbers," she said.
