{"id":36681,"date":"2026-09-12T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-12T19:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/?p=36681"},"modified":"2026-09-11T11:48:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T15:48:21","slug":"argentine-ants-formed-a-supercolony-across-portugal-spain-france-and-italy-linking-nests-across-roughly-3700-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecoticias.com\/en\/argentine-ants-formed-a-supercolony-across-portugal-spain-france-and-italy-linking-nests-across-roughly-3700-miles\/36681\/","title":{"rendered":"Argentine ants formed a supercolony across Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, linking nests across roughly 3,700 miles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An ant trail passing under a flowerpot<\/a> may look small enough to be brushed aside. But, the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) created a social network registered in southern Europe, connecting sites in Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, spanning across around 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) of coastline<\/a>. Although it is not a precise census, but rather an estimate, scientists calculated this system in millions of nests, containing billions of workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This discovery is not only a continental tunnel passing under cities, roads and beaches. It comprises a common social identity, which enables worker ants from separated nests to cross paths without the territorial confrontations observed in most ant species. Rather than behaving as a singular anthill, these innumerable local nests act more like cities within a federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A single society spanning 4 countries discovered by scientists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Across 6,004 kilometers of Atlantic and Mediterranean coastline, investigators sampled 33 Argentine ant populations<\/a> in 2002. The results given by different aggression tests divided those sites between a huge main supercolony and a way smaller Catalonian colony. The main group was \u201clargest cooperative unit ever recorded\u201d according to the investigation team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n

Read More: Argentine ants formed a supercolony across Portugal, Spain, France and Italy, linking nests across roughly 3,700 miles<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Although genetically different and geographically apart, ant workers from distant areas of the supercolony did not fight one another. But, on the other hand, workers from the Main group became highly aggressive when encountering those of the Catalonian group. The Main society extended between Italy, southern France, Spain and Portugal, according to latest investigations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not a unique interconnected tunnel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Although the term \u201csupercolony\u201d may lead to assume that this is a singular nest spanning from the Italian coast to Portugal, this is not what researchers concluded. Rather than an uninterrupted underground structure, there is a common conductual limit observed within this 6,000 kilometer delimitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way this arrangement works can be evidenced by research made on a California population<\/a>. While local nest networks may contain up to 5 million ants and occupy up to 650 square meters, ants only shared labeled food along trails up to 50 meters. Instead of every worker feeding each other across a whole continent, the result showed something more alike a tapestry of laboring neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n