July 18, 2009
The Mother of All Clusterflocks, Y’all
Consider yourselves warned: Argentine ants are unifying into one super massive mega colony rivaling ours for world domination.
These ants rubbed antennae with one another and never became aggressive or tried to avoid one another.
The most plausible explanation is that ants from these three super-colonies are indeed family, and are all genetically related, say the researchers. When they come into contact, they recognise each other by the chemical composition of their cuticles.
In short, they acted as if they all belonged to the same colony, despite living on different continents separated by vast oceans.
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—@nickbilton, 9:54 AM Jul 17th from Tweetie