accompanying statement<\/a>. In this case, Takasuka and colleagues observed an entirely new type of matricide, one in which \u201cneither [mother or offspring] benefit; only the parasitic third party.\u201d<\/p>\n\t\t![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1763415448_817_hqdefault.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Commonly known as \u201cbad-smell ants\u201d in Japan, the species Lasius orientalis and umbratus are examples of social parasites. Both respectively target colonies of Lasius flavus and japonicus ants for their stealthy overthrow plots. The usurping begins when a would-be queen sneakily acquires a colony\u2019s worker ant scent by interacting with them as they forage outside. They then infiltrate the home and head for the true queen. Once locating her, the parasitic ant sprays her with a foul-smelling chemical.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnts live in the world of odors,\u201d said Takasuka. \u201cThe parasitic ants exploit that ability to recognize odors, we believe, by spraying formic acid to disguise the queen\u2019s normal scent with a repugnant one. This causes the daughters, who normally protected their queen mother, to attack her as an enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the original queen\u2019s downfall, the parasitic ant will even retreat and hide as the workers kill their leader. In some instances, she\u2019ll return multiple times to continue tossing formic acid on the original queen to ensure her murder.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knows the odor of formic acid is very dangerous, because if host workers perceive the odor they would immediately attack her as well,\u201d Takasuka said.<\/p>\n
After the target is assassinated and removed, the parasitic ant queen assumes the throne and begins laying her own eggs. From there, the host colony\u2019s workers will even begin taking care of her and her offspring.<\/p>\n
Ecologists have previously reported this social parasitic behavior to exist, but Takasuka\u2019s team is the first to capture the entire revolution on video. Although the researchers have finally confirmed the first ants of their kind, they doubt L. orientalis and umbratus are alone in their subversive behaviors.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly ants in the subfamily Formicinae use formic acid to elicit violent responses, but I don\u2019t rule out the possibility that non-formic-acidic ants and social wasps commit matricide in similar ways,\u201d said Takasuka.<\/p>\n
\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"PopSci](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/popsci-holiday-gift-guide-header.jpg\")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n
2025 Holiday Gift Guide<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t settle for a gift card again this year. Our list of editor-approved gifts suit every personality and budget.<\/p>\n
\t\u00a0<\/p>\n
Andrew Paul is a staff writer for Popular Science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Get the Popular Science daily newsletter\ud83d\udca1 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Scientists have confirmed a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42910,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,12,63,24463,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-42909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-parasites","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}