Friday, July 9, 2010

Animal Farm Friday - Suicide Bomber Ants

Camponotus saundersi
Its defensive behaviours include self-destruction by autothysis. Two oversized, poison-filled mandibular glands run the entire length of the ant's body. When combat takes a turn for the worse, the ant violently contracts its abdominal muscles to rupture its body and spray poison or glue in all directions.[2][3] The ant has an enormously enlarged mandibular (abdomen) gland, many times the size of a normal ant, which produces the glue. The glue bursts out and entangles and immobilizes all nearby victims. [4][5]

Seriously rad! But this earlier Wikipedia entry was pretty spot on!

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