Overview
- Peer‑reviewed results published November 17 in Current Biology document the first confirmed case of parasite‑induced matricide in ants.
- Parasitic queens of Lasius orientalis and Lasius umbratus first acquire a host colony’s odor to pass as nestmates before entering the nest.
- Once inside, the invader repeatedly sprays the resident queen with an abdominal fluid suspected to be formic acid, which prompts workers to attack their own mother.
- After the host queen dies, the parasite is accepted by the workforce, begins laying eggs, and rapidly exploits the colony’s existing resources.
- The work builds on a 2021 citizen‑science video by co‑author Taku Shimada, and the team now plans surveys to test how widespread this manipulation is across ants and other social insects.