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Super Ant Colony in Australia

Posted by michael on from the no-picnics-for-you dept.

JamesD_UK writes "Elissa Suhr of the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University has discovered a 100km long colony of Argentine Ants in Melbourne. With a reduced genetic pool compared to ants native to south America, the Melbourne ants have put aside their differences and formed a super colony. The Argentine Ant poses a threat to native ants who are unable to compete, affecting animals further up the food chain (such as the coast horned lizard in South California). With the average size of an Argentine Ant at 3mm, you could fit 30 million insect overlords along the length of this colony!"

53 comments

  1. I for one... by bubblewrapgrl · · Score: 2, Funny

    welcome our new super-ant overlords!

    1. Re:I for one... by DaveJay · · Score: 1, Redundant

      In Soviet Russia, the super-ant overlords welcome YOU.

    2. Re:I for one... by adeyadey · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ok, I'll be modded down for this, but..

      Do they run Linux?
      Or in soviet russia, does the ant colonise YOU!?
      Or should I imagine a beowulf cluster of ants?
      or..
      1) start an ant super colony in Melbourne..
      2. ???
      3. PROFIT!!

      Ok, ok, Im done..

      --
      "You lied to me! There is a Swansea!"
    3. Re:I for one... by jcuervo · · Score: 1

      I love this thread! :-)

      --
      Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
  2. Meanwhile, in Argentina by notfancy · · Score: 4, Informative

    the little buggers are everywhere. They have a penchant for making nests behind tiles and in utility conduits in buildings, with the effect that all Buenos Aires feels like a huge anthill. I have to put bread, flour and sugar inside Ziploc bags to keep them out. Pest control makes them disappear for a month, and then they return.

    The only good thing about the ants is that they keep cokroaches away.

    1. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by ggambett · · Score: 1

      Same thing in Montevideo. I didn't know the ants were from Argentina - it seems you don't invade us just with your terrible soap operas and reality shows! ;)

      --
      My website
    2. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by crotherm · · Score: 2, Informative

      The only good thing about the ants is that they keep cokroaches away.

      And termites... They are here in SoCal as well. My house used to have termites, but since these ants have cleaned out the local ones, I don't see any more termite scat. But I have seen large trails of these ants going into termite damaged wood.

      --
      "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable" - JFK
    3. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by TulioSerpio · · Score: 1

      Ive seen one today. In a restaurant in Maipú and Corrientes!

      --

      I'm from Argentina: Tango, Asado, Mate, Gaucho, Maradona, YPF

    4. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by Lord+Omlette · · Score: 1
      The only good thing about the ants is that they keep cokroaches away.
      Oh my goodness, I am so sold! Where can I get some?
      --
      [o]_O
    5. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 1

      Apparently Starship Troopers wasn't that far fetched. Bugs really do antagonize your city.

      --

      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    6. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just be glad they aren't fire ants.

    7. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by rthille · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but maybe the ants are just eating the termite scat, not the termites! :-(

      --
      Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
    8. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had the same problem, now I just let snuckums, my pet anteater keep'em under control. Its cheaper than a dog or cat too because you don't even need to buy food.

    9. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by bobbozzo · · Score: 1

      Be careful... drywall/drywood termites are small and black and only sometimes have wings, so they can be easily mistaken for ants.

      Although if you are seeing trails of them, they should be ants.

      --
      Nothing to see here; Move along.
    10. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by bobbozzo · · Score: 2, Informative

      Ah... it talks about them attacking drywood termites here

      --
      Nothing to see here; Move along.
    11. Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina by S3D · · Score: 2, Funny

      I have to put bread, flour and sugar inside Ziploc bags to keep them out.
      You mean put some bread, flour and sugar into bags and place them near the nest every week or else...

  3. eat anything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    I live in melbourne, the ants are bad here, not sure if they are from this super colony, but man they eat anything.

    Bread, coffee dregs, fat off the frypan, nothing is safe.

  4. It's no wonder they're so tough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Argentinean ants send all their convict ants to Australia. They are the worst of the worst sociopathic ants and if they start working together, one can only imagine the growth in picnic muggings and 8-armed sugar robberies.

    1. Re:It's no wonder they're so tough by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 1, Informative

      Ants, being insects, have 6 legs (or arms, if it floats your boat. Only arachnids, such as spiders, have 8 legs. I found your comment funny but wanted to avoid the propagation of false information.

  5. Colony? by Alomex · · Score: 4, Funny

    100km long colony of Argentine Ants in Melbourne.

    100km long???? That isn't an ant colony, that's the mother ship.

  6. It's gone GOLD! by numbski · · Score: 3, Funny

    Look! It's Microsoft Ant Farm 2004!

    New in this version:
    Uber-DRM Protection
    Ultimate Monopoly Powers
    Better Picnic Basket Raids
    Actual Murder of Competition

    Guaranteed 100% Bug-Free!

    --

    Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).

    1. Re:It's gone GOLD! by ALeavitt · · Score: 2, Funny

      Guaranteed 100% Bug-Free!
      Until a week after it's released. Then some script kiddy will find a huge hole in the back of the ant farm that MS just happened to overlook. Soon bugs will be escaping, anyone with a modem and a brain will be able to open the back door to your ant farm, and MS will have to start releasing glue-on vinyl patches every couple of days. Don't worry, though you can always opt to auto-update, so that a Microsoft employee will break into your house at odd hours and install the patches himself. Of course, that won't stop the bugs from escaping, but that's because there are only so many patches that can be applied.

      --
      This sig has been stolen. Return it to its original user for a reward.
  7. Queen? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    How many queen ants are in a nest like this?
    I hope they find one giant ant in the middle the size of a school bus.
    Then the battle begins.

    1. Re:Queen? by Dorsai65 · · Score: 1

      Already did that. It was a 50's movie called "Them"; included James Arness (of Gunsmoke fame) as a GI.

      --
      --- Asking inconvenient questions for over 30 years...
  8. Since the "Overlord" reference is already used, by HotNeedleOfInquiry · · Score: 3, Funny

    May I suggest that that's a helluva Beowolf Cluster of ants.

    --
    "Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
    1. Re:Since the "Overlord" reference is already used, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YOU FAIL IT!

    2. Re:Since the "Overlord" reference is already used, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In Soviet Russia, you colonize ant's house?

  9. No Pictures? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why would they post a story about a 100 km ant colony without so much as a single picture to back it up? Nothing to see here.

  10. Obligatory DNA Reference by kalidasa · · Score: 3, Informative

    By hitchhiking in international trade, the ants have spread to all Mediterranean ecosystems around the world and had huge impacts in other countries. For example, in California they have displaced native ants, decreased the diversity of other native insects, affected the dispersal of seeds and even decreased lizard numbers.

    So much for "take me to your lizards."

    1. Re:Obligatory DNA Reference by rcamans · · Score: 1

      Does this mean there are fewer lawyers in California?
      (Sorry, groklaw, I do not mean the two good guys, just the rest of them)
      I mean, what's the difference, lizard, lawyer, ...

      --
      wake up and hold your nose
  11. One heck of a swim by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

    For a queen ant to get from Argentinia to Australia. Oh, you mean humans helped them get there? Stupid humans, genetic manipulation is for Q...

    --
    SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
  12. a mere 100km ? How about 6000km ??? by skelley · · Score: 5, Informative

    A species of Argentine ant introduced into Europe about 80 years ago has developed the largest supercolony ever recorded.
    It stretches 6,000 kilometres - from northern Italy, through the south of France to the Atlantic coast of Spain - with billions of related ants occupying millions of nests.

    While ants from rival nests normally fight each other to the death, ants from the supercolony have the ability to recognise each other and co-operate - even if they come from nests at opposite ends of the colony's range.

    The Argentine species (Linepithema humile) probably came into Europe on imported plants, pushing back the 20 or so indigenous species of European ant.

    see here -
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1932509.stm

  13. Mush larger one in Europe: 3,600 miles by ZiggyM · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I read this story last year, which talks about a super colony of Argentine ants spanning 3,600 miles through europe. A little exerpt from the article:

    Swiss, French and Danish scientists believe they have found the largest cooperative unit of ants ever recorded. The colony is 3,600 miles long, stretching from the Italian Riviera to northwest Spain. It consists of billions of Argentine ants living in millions of nests that cooperate with each other. Some ant colonies can achieve a cooperative effort which allows them to work as one single unit, and in essence, one being. Ants from different nests normally fight. However, researchers assume the ants in the super colony are so genetically linked that they recognize each other, despite the fact that they are from different nests with different queens.

  14. irrelevant babble by wildzeke · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have an aunt who lives in Australia. She doesn't like horned lizards very much.

    1. Re:irrelevant babble by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I have an aunt who lives in Australia. She doesn't like horned lizards very much.

      She sure does like us horny Australians, though... if you catch my drift.

  15. Re:a mere 100km ? How about 6000km ??? by metamatic · · Score: 1

    I'm sure I'm not the only one to read that story and think of the movie "Phase IV".

    --
    GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
  16. More sources from my personal Web site... by antdude · · Score: 4, Informative
    From The Ant Farm's The Reading Room:
    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:More sources from my personal Web site... by Koyaanisqatsi · · Score: 2, Funny

      Only on slashdot you see an article on ants and a very informative post on the same article by one "antdude" with ID on the lowest 100K.

      Ok, I'll call it a day, happy weekend you all :)

  17. Protect the Queen! by Thrymm · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Simpsons Episode: Ant 1: "Protect the queen!" Ant 2: "Which one's the queen?" Ant 1: "I'm the queen." Ant 2: "No you're not."

  18. Ant experts' comments... by antdude · · Score: 1

    See this forum thread. Oh and photographs including a nice looking gal here.

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    1. Re:Ant experts' comments... by Marxist+Hacker+42 · · Score: 1

      So the Californian colony will never threaten Washington State because the winters are too cold and wet?

      --
      SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
    2. Re:Ant experts' comments... by antdude · · Score: 1

      Marxist Hacker 42: Most likely unless the weather changes up there due to global warming or whatever.

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    3. Re:Ant experts' comments... by ckaminski · · Score: 2, Funny

      Or the ants start eating sheep, spinning wool and launch their own winter clothing line.

  19. OK, want pictures? Go here! by antdude · · Score: 1

    Photographs including a young gal here. ;)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  20. It's a small world after all. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Argentine ants,
    which threaten horned lizards in Southern California,
    are found in Melborne Australia.

    I guess it makes sense that Monash U is involved ("Monash is Australia's most internationalised university.")

  21. For those in the states... by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 0, Redundant

    100 kilometers is a little over 62 miles.

  22. hmmm... by Grifter · · Score: 1

    not always do you find ant comments on /. ...

  23. Ressistance is futile by wheels4u · · Score: 0

    You will be assimiilated.

    --
    11 1101 1011111 0100 000 110 1011111 0101 10 01 1011111 101 1 011 1011111 0 1111 11 111 1011111 101
  24. It just means they're inbred by wadiwood · · Score: 2, Informative

    As best I could tell from information is that the argentine ants are very inbred so they don't fight other argentine ants because they recognise each other's chemical signals that mean they are from the same parent colony.

    Hence one article that says that the argentine ants from the mediterranean sea to the English Channel are all the same colony. Inbred.

    With pictures
    http://www.boomerangei.com.au/ants.htm#A rgentine%2 0Ant
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureit ems/an ts.htm
    http://www.forestandbird.org.nz/biosecurit y/argent ineants.asp?

    No pictures
    http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2004/s1 174385.htm

    ant management
    http://www.csiro.au/index.asp?type=faq &id=Ant%20co ntrol

    --

    -- it must be true, it's on the internet.
  25. Anybody else... by Cyno01 · · Score: 1

    Still play SIM Ant? :)

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
    1. Re:Anybody else... by tid242 · · Score: 1
      nope, but i do think this was the best SIM game by far. (the sim city games are fun, but are less interesting IMHO).

      -tid242

      --

      With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. --Carl Sagan

  26. Did you know! by scius · · Score: 1

    500,000 ants (appx.) weigh one pound, and ants outweigh humans pound for pound!


    - This (outdated and questionably accurate) fact brought to you by The SIM Ant Manual (at least as i remember it)

    --
    It's time to separate the weak from the chafed, the men from the boys, the awkwardly feminine from the possibly Canadian