It kind of blows my mind that the carpenter ants that I see all the time *could* do this. It's just not an adaptation that makes sense in this context. I wonder how quickly this could arise if conditions changed?
A few 100 generations? A few thousand?
@futurebird
Here on the Canadian west coast, carpenter ants chew wood fences, window frames and houses that aren't protected at ground level. Flickers and pileated woodpeckers love them and will hammer into those same places to get them. Toss up which does the most damage, but inevitably the targets have to be replaced.
@futurebird A vewrry interesting species. At first I wondered if maybe they are filling a similar niche to Formica exsectoides, but since they don't kill the grass, probably not.
Is their diet similar to other Camponotus?
There is so little info in English on them ... their ant wiki page doesn't even mention that they make these mounds!
So, I don't know what they eat, but they must be getting a lot of calories to have such massive populations.
@futurebird I wonder if something about that particular environment has caused that adaptation? Perhaps something about properties of the soil?
They like abandoned rice paddies a lot:
https://hormigas.unq.edu.ar/?page_id=321
If you need help beyond the point where automatic translation breaks down, hit me.
I love the Guaraní name for the mounds, tacurú.
Aw gee that page won't load. "database error" I'll try later...
Probably the DDoS effect of hundreds or thousands of fedi instances fetching the page.
@angelastella @futurebird
My Ex-wife spoke Guaraní. Unfortunately I was too busy trying improve my Spanish to learn any. From what I remember, its very interesting.
Jul 6, 2026, 10:46 AM@futurebird I have a vague memory of reading about some flea species that makes (small) environment based adaptations in *one* generation.
Mom-flea living in a tough environment, has baby fleas with a helmet like growth that makes them tougher prey.
@discobeez @futurebird in mammals it’s proven that gene expression is altered by the parent’s trauma and those changes last several generations. Maybe the mechanism is similar?
Jul 6, 2026, 12:25 PM@discobeez @futurebird that's wild. I was reading that grasshopper vs locust is a one-generation change too. https://explosion-scratch.github.io/locusts/
That's a dimorph, not evolution. Spadefoot toads can do it. If they are born under certain conditions they are carnivores, otherwise they are vegetarians.
Jul 6, 2026, 3:03 PM@MCDuncanLab @futurebird not sure anybody was talking about evolution :-)
Also, that's an interesting article!