Florida’sFormica archboldiants are not to be mess with . AsNewsweekreports , a North Carolina - based research worker latterly learn that the species applies a waxy coat to its body to chemically mime its intended prey , a sort of trap - jaw pismire in the genusOdontomachus . Then , the predator sprays its unsuspicious prey with dose to trap it and drag it back to its underground lair , where it dismembers the organic structure and presumably wipe out everything but the hollow - out head .
The Florida ant ’s wont of let the head pile up in its nest has clear it a middling grisly soubriquet : the “ skull - collect ant . ” This behaviour has been remark since the 1950s . However , scientists have only recently learned how the Florida ant wield to kill gob - jaw ants , which are unnerving predators in their own right ( they can snap their jaw shut at speed of over 100 Admiralty mile an hour ) .
Researcher Adrian Smith , head of the Evolutionary Biology & Behavior Research Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences , find theF. archboldiants mimicking trap - jaw emmet at the chemic level by surface their body in the same waxy substance that covers their prey . Smith says they ’re probably mask themselves , but the extent to which they do so is n’t yet make love .
The ants were also see germinate formic superman from their abdomen to interpret the maw - jaw ants motionless . The new findings were published in the journalInsectes Sociaux , and Smith even get the gruesome natural process on camera , which you may check out in the TV below .
Smith says he ’s been fascinated with the ants — which are also found in part of Alabama and Georgia — since he was an undergrad scholar at Florida State .
“ They ’re one of the most badass ant I make out of . That ’s why I wanted to canvass them — they decorate their nest with skull , ” Smith toldThe Verge . “ A lot of other ants do cool things , but these are special to me because they ’re from Florida , and I ’m from Florida . "
[ h / tNewsweek ]
