Saw this fascinating scenario on our patio bricks one day. Hundreds of ants forming what appeared to be asterisks. I researched and found out they were at war, and at the center of the formation they were killing the enemy any by pulling him her apart! Gruesome! Tetramorium is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae that includes more than 520 species. These ants are also known as pavement ants. . These small, dark brown ants are often found nesting under sidewalks, patios, and driveways, hence their name. They have a tendency to go to war with other colonies of pavement ants. This is what you see when you stumble across hundreds or even thousands of ants scrambling around and seemingly fighting each other on the sidewalk. Wars or conflicts can break out between different groups in some ant species for a variety of reasons. These violent confrontations typically involve entire colonies, sometimes allied with each other, and can end in a stalemate, the complete destruction of one of the belligerents, the migration of one of the groups, or, in some cases, the establishment of cordial relations between the different combatants or the adoption of members of the losing group. For some species of ants, this is even a deliberately undertaken strategy, as they require capturing pupae from other species to ensure the continuity of their colony.
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