The Largest Ant Colony in the World Spans Four Nations

To survive, every ant in a colony or ant supercolony works together. They perform this by guarding the colony, bringing in food, reproducing, and protecting the queen.

A queen's main task is to lay eggs, and she will do this for the majority of her life. She and her young receive care from the majority of the smaller ants. On the other hand, the majority of the older ants are the ones who exit the colony in order to safeguard it or bring food inside.

The largest ant colony on Earth is the Argentine Ant Supercolony. It is over 6,000 km (3700 mi) long and is located in the Mediterranean. It expands from northern Italy, through the south of France to the Atlantic coast of Spain, and is made up of a species of the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) that was brought into Europe about 80 years ago. It's fascinating that the Argentine ant, which initially hails from South America, has established such a stronghold in the Mediterranean region.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, these ants stowed away on vessels and ships before arriving in Europe. This ant was first mentioned in 1847, according to records. It originates from Madeira Island, which is located in the Atlantic Ocean off the Portuguese shore.

Argentine ants are notorious for being invasive as well as adaptable and tenacious. They have made their homes in 15 various nations. Nearly everywhere they did this, the local ant species were either eliminated or driven to leave. Although this might be regarded as normal behavior of aggressive ant species, the foreign Argentine ant is able to carry out this activity on a massive scale because of the size of the ant supercolony.

An Argentine ant is regarded to be foreign if it is found living outside of its native South America; for example, the Mediterranean supercolony's entire population of Argentine ants is thought to be foreign.

These foreign Argentine ants have more than one queen in their colonies, which is another distinction between them and their South American relatives. One reason the Argentine ant supercolony has grown so rapidly because there are numerous queens who are simultaneously laying eggs.

The magnitude of this ant supercolony is another characteristic that sets it apart. According to scientific speculation, the supercolony extends beyond the Mediterranean basin. The scientists discovered that when they exposed Argentine ants from various regions of the globe to one another, the ants recognized one another. They were in no way aggressive.

As we already know, this is unusual behavior because "outsider" ants from other colonies, even those of the same species, are antagonistic to ants from other colonies. This has led many specialists to believe that the Argentine ant supercolony covers the entire planet.