SOME SPECIES OF ANTS ARE SUICIDE BOMBERS
"Camponotus
saundersi" is a specie of ant found in Malaysia and Brunei, belonging
to the genus of Carpenter ants. Workers of this ant specie can explode
suicidally as an ultimate act of defense, an ability it has in common
with several other species in this genus and a few other insects. The
ant has an enormously enlarged mandibular (jaw) gland, many times the
size of a normal ant, which produces defense adhesive secretions.
The
two over sized, poison-filled mandibular glands run the entire length
of the ant's body. When combat takes a turn for the worse, the worker
ant violently contracts its abdominal muscles to rupture its gaster at
the intersegmental fold, which also bursts the mandibular glands,
thereby spraying a sticky secretion in all directions from the anterior
region of its head. The glue, which also has corrosive properties and
functions as a chemical irritant, can entangle and immobilize all nearby
victims.
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