Argentine Ants

Argentine ants are an invasive species from the Pana River in Brazil. They are half the size of our garden ant in France but have an interesting particularity that makes them quite dangerous: the cooperation. Normally, when an ant encounters another ant from another nest, they either fight, or ignore each other. The Argentine Ants cooperate and more than that, they stick together in what we call megacolony. These megacolonies can spread for miles and might destroy a huge part of the local ecosystem just by feeding themselves.

Just like other ants, Argentine Ants “farm” sap-sucking insects. These insects eats the sap of plants and produce some kind of honey the ants feed on. It is a natural phenomena but the size of the nest make the farming quite dangerous for human agriculture.

The agriculture might already be in real danger in the places Argentine Ants invaded. Indeed, the presence of these ants tends to make the pollinators, like bees, disappear. It might be because the ants are degrading the environment, or they just destroy the hive to feed on.