Super Ant Colony in Australia 53

Posted by michael on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:15AM 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!"

Super Ant Colony in Australia

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I for one... (Score:2, Funny)

by bubblewrapgrl ( 189933 ) writes:

welcome our new super-ant overlords!
- Re:I for one... (Score:2, Redundant)
  
  by DaveJay ( 133437 ) writes:
  
  In Soviet Russia, the super-ant overlords welcome YOU.
- Re:I for one... (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by adeyadey ( 678765 ) writes:
  
  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..
  - Re:I for one... (Score:1)
    
    by jcuervo ( 715139 ) writes:
    
    I love this thread! :-)
- For those in the states... (Score:1, Redundant)
  
  by I(rispee_I(reme ( 310391 ) writes:
  
  100 kilometers is a little over 62 miles.
Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:5, Informative)

by notfancy ( 113542 ) writes: <matias@k-bel l . com> on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:29AM (#9959197) Homepage

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.

- Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:1)
  
  by ggambett ( 611421 ) writes:
  
  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! ;)
- Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:3, Informative)
  
  by crotherm ( 160925 ) writes:
  
  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.
  - Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)
    
    by rthille ( 8526 ) writes:
    
    Yeah, but maybe the ants are just eating the termite scat, not the termites! :-(
  - Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)
    
    by bobbozzo ( 622815 ) writes:
    
    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.
    - Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:3, Informative)
      
      by bobbozzo ( 622815 ) writes:
      
      Ah... it talks about them attacking drywood termites here [palomar.edu]
- Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)
  
  by TulioSerpio ( 125657 ) writes:
  
  Ive seen one today. In a restaurant in Maipú and Corrientes!
- Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)
  
  by Lord Omlette ( 124579 ) writes:
  
  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?
- Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)
  
  by Elwood P Dowd ( 16933 ) writes:
  
  Apparently Starship Troopers wasn't that far fetched. Bugs really do antagonize your city.
- Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by S3D ( 745318 ) writes:
  
  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...
eat anything (Score:3, Informative)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:31AM (#9959218)

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.

It's no wonder they're so tough (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:35AM (#9959265)

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.

- Re:It's no wonder they're so tough (Score:2, Informative)
  
  by I(rispee_I(reme ( 310391 ) writes:
  
  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.
Colony? (Score:5, Funny)

by Alomex ( 148003 ) writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:35AM (#9959267) Homepage

100km long colony of Argentine Ants in Melbourne.

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

- It just means they're inbred (Score:3, Informative)
  
  by wadiwood ( 601205 ) writes:
  
  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.o
It's gone GOLD! (Score:4, Funny)

by numbski ( 515011 ) * writes: <numbskiNO@SPAMhksilver.net> on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:36AM (#9959280) Homepage Journal

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!

- Re:It's gone GOLD! (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by ALeavitt ( 636946 ) * writes:
  
  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 hi
Queen? (Score:3, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @10:39AM (#9959315)

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.

- Re:Queen? (Score:1)
  
  by Dorsai65 ( 804760 ) writes:
  
  Already did that. It was a 50's movie called "Them"; included James Arness (of Gunsmoke fame) as a GI.
Since the "Overlord" reference is already used, (Score:4, Funny)

by HotNeedleOfInquiry ( 598897 ) writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @11:04AM (#9959610)

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

No Pictures? (Score:3, Insightful)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @11:10AM (#9959693)

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.

- OK, want pictures? Go here! (Score:2)
  
  by antdude ( 79039 ) writes:
  
  Photographs including a young gal here [yahoo.com]. ;)
Obligatory DNA Reference (Score:4, Informative)

by kalidasa ( 577403 ) * writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @11:16AM (#9959761) Journal

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."

- Re:Obligatory DNA Reference (Score:1)
  
  by rcamans ( 252182 ) writes:
  
  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, ...
One heck of a swim (Score:2)

by Marxist Hacker 42 ( 638312 ) writes:

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...
a mere 100km ? How about 6000km ??? (Score:5, Informative)

by skelley ( 526008 ) writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @12:24PM (#9960501)

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

- Re:a mere 100km ? How about 6000km ??? (Score:2)
  
  by metamatic ( 202216 ) writes:
  
  I'm sure I'm not the only one to read that story and think of the movie "Phase IV".
Mush larger one in Europe: 3,600 miles (Score:2, Interesting)

by ZiggyM ( 238243 ) * writes:

I read this story [crusaderonline.com] 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 whi
irrelevant babble (Score:3, Funny)

by wildzeke ( 191754 ) writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @12:54PM (#9960910)

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

More sources from my personal Web site... (Score:5, Informative)

by antdude ( 79039 ) writes: on Friday August 13, 2004 @01:18PM (#9961236) Homepage Journal
From The Ant Farm [dhs.org]'s The Reading Room [zimage.com]:
- Argentine Ants Invasion: Success Tied to Reduced Genetic Variation [ucsd.edu]
- Supercolony of ants found [news.com.au] (Europe; Mirrored articles: #1 [sciam.com] and #2 [ananova.com])
- Invading Ants Press United Front in California [nytimes.com]
- Argentine Ants Threaten Californian Horned Lizards [sciam.com]
- It's the weather [stanford.edu]
- Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia [yahoo.com] (similar story [theage.com.au].
- Might not be 'supercolony' after all: #1 [usatoday.com] and #2 [sfgate.com].
- Re:More sources from my personal Web site... (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by Koyaanisqatsi ( 581196 ) writes:
  
  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 :)
Ant experts' comments... (Score:2)

by antdude ( 79039 ) writes:

See this forum thread [ezboard.com]. Oh and photographs including a nice looking gal here [yahoo.com].
- Re:Ant experts' comments... (Score:2)
  
  by Marxist Hacker 42 ( 638312 ) writes:
  
  So the Californian colony will never threaten Washington State because the winters are too cold and wet?
  - Re:Ant experts' comments... (Score:2)
    
    by antdude ( 79039 ) writes:
    
    Marxist Hacker 42: Most likely unless the weather changes up there due to global warming or whatever.
    - Re:Ant experts' comments... (Score:3, Funny)
      
      by ckaminski ( 82854 ) writes:
      
      Or the ants start eating sheep, spinning wool and launch their own winter clothing line.
hmmm... (Score:1)

by Grifter ( 12763 ) writes:

not always do you find ant comments on /. ...
Anybody else... (Score:2)

by Cyno01 ( 573917 ) writes:

Still play SIM Ant? :)
- Re:Anybody else... (Score:2)
  
  by tid242 ( 540756 ) * writes:
  
  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
- Did you know! (Score:1)
  
  by scius ( 644983 ) writes:
  
  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)

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

I for one... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:I for one... (Score:2, Redundant)

Re:I for one... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:I for one... (Score:1)

For those in the states... (Score:1, Redundant)

Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:1)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:3, Informative)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:3, Informative)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:2)

Re:Meanwhile, in Argentina (Score:3, Funny)

eat anything (Score:3, Informative)

It's no wonder they're so tough (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It's no wonder they're so tough (Score:2, Informative)

Colony? (Score:5, Funny)

It just means they're inbred (Score:3, Informative)

It's gone GOLD! (Score:4, Funny)

Re:It's gone GOLD! (Score:3, Funny)

Queen? (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Queen? (Score:1)

Since the "Overlord" reference is already used, (Score:4, Funny)

No Pictures? (Score:3, Insightful)

OK, want pictures? Go here! (Score:2)

Obligatory DNA Reference (Score:4, Informative)

Re:Obligatory DNA Reference (Score:1)

One heck of a swim (Score:2)

a mere 100km ? How about 6000km ??? (Score:5, Informative)

Re:a mere 100km ? How about 6000km ??? (Score:2)

Mush larger one in Europe: 3,600 miles (Score:2, Interesting)

irrelevant babble (Score:3, Funny)

More sources from my personal Web site... (Score:5, Informative)

Re:More sources from my personal Web site... (Score:3, Funny)

Ant experts' comments... (Score:2)

Re:Ant experts' comments... (Score:2)

Re:Ant experts' comments... (Score:2)

Re:Ant experts' comments... (Score:3, Funny)

hmmm... (Score:1)

Anybody else... (Score:2)

Re:Anybody else... (Score:2)

Did you know! (Score:1)

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