Two winged clonal raider ants stand out against a white background. About a decade ago, scientists observing clonal raider ants spotted something strange: Although the species is known to be queenless ...

“Our discovery reveals a parasite that is more sophisticated than we originally believed it to be.” Studying hundreds of infected ants in the Bidstrup Forests, in Denmark, scientists painstakingly ...

A team of German scientists has discovered the possible mechanism of how a parasitic tapeworm can allow a certain species of ants to live substantially longer when infected. In addition, the ants are ...

Imagine coming-to, jaws gripping the top of a swaying blade of grass, unaware of how you got there. That's the reality for ants infected with the lancet liver fluke, a tiny parasitic flatworm. Liver ...

The Ophiocordyceps unilateralis fungus has just one goal: self-propagation and dispersal. To do so, the parasitic fungus hijacks ants ’ bodies, essentially turning them into zombies.

Around the world, a parasitic fungus transforms ants into "zombies." The fungus is like something out of a horror movie: The organism hijacks the body and brain of its ant host, mind-controlling it ...

The findings offer a new way to understand how some ants become total layabouts. Ants are known as hard workers, tirelessly attending to their assigned tasks -- foraging for food, nurturing larvae, ...

To thrive, ant colonies rely on everyone pulling their weight. For raider ants, this means diligent scouts track down other nests, then direct hundreds of savage foragers to attack. They return with ...

Queen Iberian harvester ants are capable of storing and cloning the sperm from a cousin species, spawning hybrid offspring to take on the hard work of keeping the colony intact. Reading time: Reading ...