scientist have find out a species of ant that , well , lie terrifyingly in postponement for its enemies before tearing them aside limb by tree branch .
CalledAzteca brevis , the ants were found in Costa Rica ’s Piedras Blancas National Park in 1999 . But it was only when observed more nearly that their alarming trait became patent . A work describing the findings is issue in theBiological Journal of the Linnean Society .
“ The finding was in fact very surprising , ” Markus Schmidt from Biofaction in Austria , one of the study ’s author , told IFLScience . “ It was indeed so surprising that my research fellow went to the wood to recur the experiment before they fully believed it . But that is the hallmark of scientific discipline , any finding should be able to be duplicate by others ! ”
The ants consist in wait in hollow on the arm of a plant life , big enough for their mouths ( mandibles ) to fit through . When prey up to 50 time full-grown than an private ant lands on the arm , the team of pismire expunge , at the same time biting down on the fair game and dragging it into the holes . Over the course of 20 minute to several hour , they will pluck the quarry apart .
“ They assume the extremities of these arthropod and pull backwards , immobilise the prey , which is then spreadeagled and later cut up up or take out into a gallery before being carved up , ” the study ’s writer , the other being Alain Dejean from the University of Toulouse in France , write in their report .
New Scientistdescribed the cognitive process as a “ medieval agony rack ” , as the ants stretch and tear their quarry apart , including grasshoppers and leafcutter ants , and carve it up on the fleck . Ew .
This trait , while strange , has been seen in another coinage of ant – Allomerus decemarticulatus – describedback in 2005 . They engage a similar technique , although they were rather more ambitious , seeking quarry up to 1,800 prison term enceinte than the ordinary ant . And they seem to be the only two ant species that do this .
“ Last fourth dimension I ensure there no other ants who build trap , neither this manner or any other way , ” said Schmidt . “ We suspect the rationality for these plant - emmet to develop this strategy is the lack of proteins in the dieting of arboreal ants , since the ambush proficiency is presumptively a very get-up-and-go efficient way to raven on ( large ) insect . ”
Ants , basically , are frickin ’ crazy . Do n’t cross them .
[ H / T : New Scientist ]
