‘Supersoldier’ ants with gigantic jaws

  • Ancient genes activated by dab of hormones
  • Ants seem to contain a ‘toolkit’ for creating monsters
  • May be a throwback to ancestors from millions of years ago

By
Rob Waugh

Last updated at 9:13 PM on 5th January 2012

Nightmarish ‘supersoldier’ ants with huge heads and jaws have been created by activating ancient genes.

Scientists believe the monster ants may be a genetic throwback to an ancestor that lived millions of years ago.

Scientists say they can create the supersoldiers at will by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone – the larvae then develop into supersoldiers rather than normal soldier or worker ants.


A supersoldier next to a normal ant: Scientists say they can create the supersoldiers at will by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone - the larvae then develop into supersoldiers rather than normal soldier or worker ants

A supersoldier next to a normal ant: Scientists say they can create the supersoldiers at will by dabbing normal ant larvae with a special hormone – the larvae then develop into supersoldiers rather than normal soldier or worker ants

Supersoldier ants can occur naturally in the wild, but only rarely. In the deserts of America and Mexico, their job is to protect the colony from raids by invading army ants.

The supersoldiers use their enormous heads to block the nest entrance and attack any enemy ants that get too close.

Scientists showed that ordinary ants of the species Pheidole morrisi contain all the genetic ‘tools’ needed to turn them into supersoldiers – they just need a hormonal push.

The research is reported today in the journal Science.

Scientists created the monster ants in the laboratory by activating ancient ancestral genes

Scientists created the monster ants in the laboratory by activating ancient ancestral genes

Authors Dr Rajendhran Rajakumar, from McGill University, Canada, and colleagues wrote: ‘We uncovered an ancestral development potential to produce a novel supersoldier subcaste that has been retained throughout a hyperdiverse ant genus that evolved 35 to 60 million years ago.’

The results suggest that holding on to ancestral development toolkits may play an important role in evolving new physical traits, say the researchers.

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Killer ants? Mix and match monkeys? New strains of Bird Flu? And these people are spending billions of pounds trying to harness the God particle? What are they going to do with that? There used to be very tight ethics in these fields a decade or two ago, post Labour, there doesn’t seem to be any ethics at all.

I guess this will be done to fire ants right….they will kill people……what is the reason behind this…?

Please don’t let the NFL players get hold of this stuff. Wait! It would be okay to let the Chiefs have it. We need a nose tackle.

I’m still waiting for the dinosaur from a chicken. Still waiting!

Them!

Please don’t let the NFL players get hold of this. Wait a minute! It would be okay to give it to the Chiefs. We need a nose tackle.

Won’t somebody think of the children?

What I would like is a hormone that, if I dabbed it on myself, would make me irresistible to the opposite sex! Not too worried about this experiment though because these ants appear to occur naturally, though rarely, in the wild anyway. Nature isn’t exactly being twisted in this experiment, just nudged into producing a result that she produces occasionally through natural means. I find it interesting. Perhaps, some day, ants will produce more of this super soldiers to protect them from the destructive actions of humans who regularly destroy their nesting sites. Can’t say I blame them, either.

These people aren’t scientists, they’re fools.

oh yeah, forget about curing HIV and other major diseases……lets make big headed ants…..because THAT is more useful right!??!?! Who funds these idiots!?!?! They should be ashamed of themselves!!!!

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