Entomologist Jessica Purcell calls the learned behavior “a new height of exploitation” Getty Parasitic queen ants infiltrate rival ant colonies and trigger workers to kill their own queen The takeover ...

The Lasius flavus ant colony is like a monarchy maintained by absolute loyalty. Thousands of worker ants, all sisters, toil ceaselessly for one individual: the queen. She is their mother, the genetic ...

Move over, Game of Thrones—ants can turn armies against their leaders and use subterfuge to take over entire kingdoms, too. This chilling discovery did not originate with a professional scientist, but ...

Researchers detail a parasitic strategy, first observed in a blog post, where an invading ant queen uses a chemical spray to compel host workers into killing their own mother Researchers report on a ...

Researchers report on a behavioral phenomenon where parasitic ants trick a host colony into killing its own queen. In this photo, the parasitic ant queen Lasius orientalis (left) infiltrates the nest ...