(July 2) - Once upon a time, Argentine ants were confined to South America. But gradually human travelers introduced this hardy species to every continent except for Antarctica.
And according to a new study in the journal Insectes Sociaux, billions of the ants have now formed a global colony with enormous branches in Europe, the United States and Japan, where they attack native creatures and plants.
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The BBC, which reported on the study, said the European colony of Argentine ants (formally known as Linepithema humile) may stretch for 3,700 miles along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
An outpost in the U.S. -- the so-called "Californian large" -- extends over 560 miles of the West Coast, the BBC said.
Researchers in Japan and Spain have discovered that Argentine ants in Europe, Japan and California share a kind of family resemblance: a similar chemical profile of hydrocarbons on their cuticles.
But there is additional proof of this family tie. Ants are usually highly territorial creatures. They will instinctively fight interlopers from outside their own colony.
Yet when researchers brought together ants from the main European, Californian and Japanese colonies, there were no miniature brawls. The ants behaved like friends, mingling and rubbing antennae with one another.
