Comment by abrookewood
14 hours ago
Yeah, that is pretty crazy. I wonder what it smells like? Has to be an enemy specific to that ant species right?
14 hours ago
Yeah, that is pretty crazy. I wonder what it smells like? Has to be an enemy specific to that ant species right?
that's a good question -- the paper describes it triggering aggression in the ant within milliseconds of it probing the snare with its antenna. I don't know the basis for it, but that's some down-to-the-metal ant programming right there
You should read up on manipulative parasites too! Things like wasp larvae developing inside an insect and changing its behavior through chemical manipulation of neural pathways. Some really remarkable specialization!