Ants

The mandibles of the Dracula ant, Mystrium camillae, are the fastest known moving animal appendages, snapping shut at speeds of up to 90 meters per second.

A Dracula Ant's Snapping Jaw Is the Fastest Known Appendage in the Animal Kingdom

A new study found that the ant can snap its mandibles at a speed of up to 200 miles per hour—5,000 times faster than the blink of an eye

Signals from other workers can tell ants when and where to fan out and search for food.

Ant Colonies Retain Memories That Outlast the Lifespans of Individuals

An ant colony can thrive for decades, changing its behavior based on past events even as individual ants die off every year or so

Lasius niger queen and worker ants each got their own individual two-dimensional barcode tags. The tags allowed researchers to track their movement in the colony.

Ants Take Sick Days, Too

A new study has found that when some members of the colony are exposed to pathogens, they spend less time in the nest

Even outside of Hollywood, wasps are fierce contenders in their own right.

Five Real Life Wasp Superpowers Not in <i>Ant-Man and the Wasp</i>

Bees tend to get all the attention, but Marvel turns the spotlight on one of nature’s most devious masterminds

Weaver ants demonstrating exploding behavior in experimental setting

'Exploding' Ant Ruptures Its Own Body to Defend Its Nest

It's the ultimate act of self-sacrifice

Researchers Find 98-Million-Year-Old Horned Vampire Ant Encased in Amber

A newly described species of Hell Ant impaled its tiny victims on its reinforced horn and may have slurped up their bug blood

A member of the Myrmoteras genus of trap-jaw ants, with mandibles deployed.

Prying Apart the Mighty Bite of a Malaysian Trap-Jaw Ant

Its mandibles strike in a fraction of a blink of an eye, but how does it do it?

A small group of floating fire ants

Another Danger of the Harvey Flood: Floating Fire Ants

The stinging insects are floating around Texas floodwaters in giant mats

A close-up of a camel spider's multifaceted mouthparts, taken in Namibia's Namib Desert.

Camel Spiders Are Fast, Furious and Horrifically Fascinating

Yet another mystery about these arachnids: Why are they so intent on mass-murdering ants?

How Fire Ants Build Incredible Writhing Towers

Using X-rays, researchers find simple rules help the ants raise each other up, which could be useful in robotics

This false-color image depicts various compounds that ants smell to detect where their nestmates stand in the colony's social hierarchy.

Studying Ant "Noses" Could Lead to Better Bug Repellents

The new class of repellents, called "excito-repellents," is similar to "getting on an elevator with someone who's put on way too much perfume"

The fire ant has spread like wildfire around the world, thanks to a winning combination of traits and a little help from humans.

How Humans Helped Ants Invade the World

Waves of globalization brought these warriors to new shores, where certain species spread like wildfire

Behold T. Rex the ant

T. Rex Ants Found Alive for the First Time

It is not nearly as formidable as its namesake

Matabele ant carries a wounded comrade home

This Ant Species Rescues Wounded Comrades on the Battlefield

Though it may be counterintuitive, a new study suggests saving the injured benefits the colony more than leaving them for dead

Ingenious leafcutter ants have developed a successful symbiotic relationship with the fungi they farm. New genetic analysis helps pinpoint when, and why.

How Ants Became the World’s Best Fungus Farmers

Ancient climate change may have spurred a revolution in ant agriculture, Smithsonian researchers find

Why 10 Daily Tons of Ant Poop Keep This Rainforest Thriving

The soil in the rainforests of Barro Colorado is packed with nutrients, but where does it come from?

The tongue-eating louse will leave you speechless.

Hollywood Has Nothing on These Real Life Halloween Horror Shows

Face-unfurling, chest-exploding, zombie-making fiends: They're all around us

Tiny nurse ants tending to white ant larvae are dwarfed by the queen ant in the upper right. All the ants feed upon protein-rich food produced by a white-grey fungus that they cultivate underground.

Were Ants the World's First Farmers?

A new study shows that a group of ants have been conducting a subsistence type of farming since shortly after the dinosaurs died out

Entomologist Justin O. Schmidt holds the notorious tarantula hawk, one of the only creatures to rate a 4 on his pain index.

This Guy Got Himself Stung 1,000 Times For Science—Here’s What He Learned

A new book reveals what it’s like to be stung by nearly 100 species of insect, and some of the secrets of things that sting

An ant of the species Iridomyrmex purpureus (center) lifts a leg in an aggressive display when she encounters ants from a different nest.

Antennae Yield New Clues Into Ant Communication

Despite more than a century of study, scientists still have much more to learn about the complex world of ant communication

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