Argentine ant

Elissa Suhr with a vial of the ants. AFP picture

A giant colony of Argentine ants stretching 100 km has been discovered in the Australian city of Melbourne, threatening the local insect population. Argentine ants look like any ordinary household ant, except that they are aggressive and regarded as one of the world’s 100 worst animal invaders, displacing native plants and animals, said Monash University scientist Elissa Suhr. Suhr said the pest’s natural aggression kept numbers under control in its native country, but the genetic make-up of the ants found in Australia had mutated, allowing them to cooperate to build the supercolony. (Reuters)