Why the effectiveness of the red “undertaker” ant should inspire us

Wednesday 11th December 2024 01:13 PM

funny little beasts – Cooperation between ants is an example studied by researchers. 20 Minutes takes stock

Lesson of life and death among red ants. To counter the health risk caused by the infected corpses of their fellow ants, the insects assigned to the functions of undertaker receive the exceptional cooperation of other ants.

Mutual aid between ants

“There is mutual aid in the colony when the health risk becomes much greater,” explains Quentin Avanzi, doctoral student in biology at the Free University of Brussels. Almost everyone is ready to cooperate, rather than leaving the dirty work to a minority of specialists, at the risk of too slow an evacuation.

A species of red ant common on the European continent, this social insect contributes to the life of its colony, which includes several queens and up to 2,500 workers, by specializing in tasks such as rearing larvae or provisioning the nest. . The study published in the journal Open Science of the British Royal Society identifies a group playing the role of undertaker, but also those who will lend a hand in an emergency.

A mushroom called Beauveria bassiana

To do this, the researchers used the vulnerability of the ant, which is omnivorous, to a fungus which thrives on the corpses of the small insects on which it feeds. This fungus, Beauveria bassiana, is a “very generalist” pathogen, which kills its host by depositing spores on its shell, which will germinate and pierce this shell, before developing by “eating the entire interior(.. .)