Friday, April 16, 2004

Parasitic ants that don't ruin the neighborhood

Darwin's law spawning more of its infinite game-theoretic variations...

L. minutissimus is a unique social parasite in that it lives entirely within the colonies of other ant species. But unlike parasitic slave-maker ants, which raid and virtually destroy the colonies of unsuspecting hosts, L. minutissimus appears to move in and live amiably with its host. Such organisms are called inquilines.

Mellifluous and cool vocabulary word of the day: inquiline.

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