The test can tell the difference between two ant species that look virtually identical to us, but which are far from it – at least from the rare butterfly's point of view.
One type of ant is essential for the large blue's survival, while the other spells almost certain death.
(Photo: David Simcox)
'The ants in question – two species of Myrmica red ants – look very similar and even trained ant taxonomists have trouble distinguishing between the two,' says Rhian Guillem from the University of Sheffield, who led the study. 'And there are only a handful of people who can do this in the UK.'
But scientists are discovering that even if two ant species look alike, the chemical compounds on their bodies can be very different. It's this difference that can be used to tell the two species of red ant apart.
'Myrmica sabuleti is the right ant, the one that's essential to the large blue's survival. It has a chemical called 5-methylpentacosane on its cuticle. The other ant, Myrmica scabrinodis has a different chemical, 3-methyltricosane,' explains Guillem.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!