In my fantasy novel Antics, my six-legged heroes escape their enemy by fleeing over a vast expanse of water. The water is a puddle that you or me would splash through or skip over, but to a tiny ant – the size of a grain of rice – it’s like a vast ocean.
Around 500 years ago, some real-life ants did in fact cross an ocean. The tropical fire ant (Solenopsis geminata) went on a high seas adventure and changed the course of ant history. Until the 16th century, the species was native only to the Americas, but they can now be found around the world. Researchers believe that’s because they hitched rides on Spanish galleons.
(Photo: Jeff Kern/Flickr)
Centuries later, these ants, that pack a powerful sting (much like my rascally heroes), can be found almost anywhere with a tropical climate, including Africa, Australia, India and Southeast Asia.
Researchers Voyage of Discovery
Researchers from the University of Illinois in America analysed the genetics of modern tropical fire ants from 192 locales and found that the ants outside the Americas were most genetically similar to ants from southwestern Mexico, suggesting that’s where they originated from.
They also looked at the trading patterns of Spanish sailing vessels going to and from the New World centuries ago. The Spanish established a regular trade route from Acapulco carrying silver and by accident, ants across the Pacific to Manila, Philippines, and from there to other parts of the world.
(Photo: Matthew Hadley/Flickr)
Doing so, they unknowingly created a headache for future generation because invasive ants are a huge problem that costs millions of dollars each year to control.
“If you look at the records, you look at the history, you look at the old trading routes and you look at the genetics, it all paints this picture that this was one of the first global invasions, and it coincided with what could be the first global trade pattern of the Spanish,” said study author Andrew Suarez, from the University of Illinois. “The ants from the introduced areas in the Old World are genetically most similar to ants from southwestern Mexico, suggesting that their source population came from this region.”
But for my tiny ants, a puddle is a big enough ocean to cross. To read about my heroes “high seas” adventure visit: http://viewBook.at/ANTics
Thanks for reading and don't forget to keep reaching for the stars