ant fact archive

Sergiy Barchuk, Dandelions, 2025

Sergiy Barchuk

Dandelions
2025
photograph
courtesy of the artist

During combat, exploding ants87 burst into a toxic bright yellow glue, sacrificing themselves as a last line of defense.88, 89

  • Colobopsis explodens
  • The ants have built-in weak points. By contracting their abdominal muscles, they rupture their bodies to release the venom in their mandibular glands.
  • Laciny et al., 2018