A researcher has found that the social patterns of invasive fire ants are determined by a supergene, research into which could help mitigate the danger posed by the insects.
John Wang (王忠信), an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica, the nation’s top research institute, said fire ants can be divided into two social groups: monogyne, which have a single queen per nest, and polygyne, with multiple functional queens per nest.
In the first group, worker ants will kill other queens if they enter the colony, Wang said.
Photo: CNA
In the second group, multiple queens can live peacefully in the colony, he added.
Fire ants are very aggressive, and their stings cause itching, swelling and redness of the skin.
Wang’s research found that the social patterns of fire ants are determined by about 600 genes locked in a supergene that is passed down to offspring without exchanging chromosomes.
The researcher said the supergene makes queens release a specific odor that workers can differentiate.
Wang said that nests of polygyne fire ants have larger populations and “intensity,” posing a greater hazard to people.
If an odor can be developed to make the ants mistakenly believe that they belong to a monogyne group, they would kill other queens, so that the propagation of the colony can be controlled, Wang said.
Academia Sinica awarded Wang’s work — in the category of research by young academics — with a cash prize of NT$200,000 and NT$300,000 in research funding. He was one of 16 winners.
Invasive fire ants first began making inroads into Taiwan in 2003; colonies can now be found in greater Taipei and Taoyuan, and in Hsinchu, Miaoli and Chiayi counties.
Due to rapid propagation of ants inside colonies and the large number of new colonies, they are hard to exterminate, Wang said.
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