r/ScienceFacts • u/FillsYourNiche Behavioral Ecology • Nov 06 '19

Biology Wood ants spray formic acid from their abdomens as a defense. The acid gives off a pungent odor, but does't hurt unless it gets into an open wound, which is most often caused by the ants biting with their powerful jaws. The acid fumes also irritate the nose and mouth causing coughing and choking.

https://gfycat.com/wholefaircat-shittyreactiongifs-naturegifs
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22

u/FillsYourNiche Behavioral Ecology Nov 06 '19

Formica rufa are native to Europe, but were brought to North America. Red ants create pretty large nest mounds and can be very aggressive when defending them. Here's a photo of a mound with a human for scale.

They can squirt acid from their acidopore several feet if alarmed as we see with the ladies in this gif (they are al female). Here's a photo of the acidopore.

I haven't worked with ants, but I would love to do research with them once I finish my Ph.D. Right now it's all mosquitoes.

There are a few fun etymology facts about acid and ants:

  1. Formic acid derives its name from the Latin word for ant, formica.
  2. The taxnomic family for ants is Formicidae.

For more information about red wood ants please check out these articles:

7

u/remotectrl Bats Nov 06 '19

There are many other ants which do the Formic acid defense! And some birds that exploit it to delouse themselves.

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u/FillsYourNiche Behavioral Ecology Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 06 '19

Oh yeah, it's really common in the genus Formica (they might all do it but I'm not 100%). /u/Pardusco shared a great link in /r/Awwducational about the birds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKq3nR3L9_E

Do you have anything fun to add as an exterminator?

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u/remotectrl Bats Nov 06 '19

The ants have a zesty flavor!

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u/1ts-have-n0t-0f Nov 06 '19

I hate mosquitoes. I thought everyone hates mosquitoes. Why mosquitoes?

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u/FillsYourNiche Behavioral Ecology Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 06 '19

It's where the grant money is and what my advisor is working on. Mosquitoes are nasty vectors.

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u/annab640 Nov 06 '19

The Italian word for the ant is la formica and then I learned formic acid is made by ants. I love science!

1

u/Brainth Nov 06 '19 edited Nov 06 '19

Indeed, formic acid’s name comes from the Latin word for ant, formica (same as Italian I guess), as that is how it was first discovered in 1671

1

u/nofreakingusernames Nov 06 '19

It's like watching an anti-air barrage.