When first building a colony, the queen of the black garden ant species can eat the larvae when it is detected to be infected to prevent the spread.
According to research in the journal Current Biologyif a black garden ant (Lasius niger) newly hatched is infected with the disease, it will be eaten by the queen ants before spreading the disease to other ants, Science Alert reported on September 30.
“The queen starts building the colony alone and nearly starves herself to nurture the first workers. The queen that ‘produces’ the most workers will have the greatest chance of survival, so, The ability to eat and ‘recycle’ infected larvae into young ones means that valuable resources are not wasted,” explains biologist Flynn Bizzell from Oxford University, a member of the research team.
Bizzell and biologist Christopher Pull at Oxford University discovered that worker ants in colonies do not tend to cannibalize each other. However, when the colony is just starting to build and is vulnerable, the queen cannot pull the infected larvae out of the nest. The queen ant was locked inside with her children, crowded and without anyone to help.
The risk of infection in this environment is very large. Therefore, when they detect pathogens in the nest, they will remove infected larvae as soon as possible. If necessary, the queen will eat up to 92% of infected larvae. Queen ants that did so were able to lay 55% more eggs the next time.
For their experiment, Bizzell and Pull exposed five larvae of each queen to pathogenic spores of a fungus. The larvae are then left alone for 24 hours to develop the disease, although at this time they are not yet infectious. When they returned to the nest, Bizzell and Pull observed the queen’s actions.
Within a few hours, the queen eats most of the diseased ants and leaves the healthy ones. The fungal disease does not appear to affect the queen even after feeding. Bizzell and Pull suggest this is because they protect themselves from within. Before and after the queen ate her children, two biologists noticed that some ants were “taking care of” a gland on their abdomen. This gland produces an antibacterial acid venom. Swallowing this venom can help ants neutralize pathogens in the intestines.
In the next experiment, when encountering dead larvae and beginning to produce infectious spores, the queen sprayed poison on the corpse from her venom glands. However, this stage is very dangerous for the queen ant. Even if poison is sprayed on the larvae, it still has an 80% chance of dying from an infectious disease. In case the queen ant survives, her brood still perishes. Therefore, it is important to act early to prevent infection.
New research provides evidence that queen ants eat their young as a way to cope with disease and protect their own lives as well as those of other young ants.
Thu Thao (Theo Science Alert)