ArticleEcology and evolution2017
Wood ants produce a potent antimicrobial agent by applying formic acid on tree-collected resin.
Article in Ecology and evolution, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multilevel variation in pathogen susceptibility and grooming behavior in ant societies.Die Naturwissenschaften · 2026Article
- Animal medical systems from Apis to apes: history, recent advances and future perspectives.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025Review
- Varroa destructor weakens the external immunity of western honey bees by impairing melittin production.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Investigation into the Efficacy of Formic Acid Fumigation for Inactivating Clinically Isolated Filamentous Fungi.Infection and drug resistance · 2025Article
- Article
- Ant's Nest as a microenvironment: DistinctEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Fluid Ejections in Nature.Annual review of chemical and biomolecular engineering · 2024Review
- Fluid ejections in nature.ArXiv · 2024Article
- Blacklegged ticks,Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Chemistry and Functions of Imported Fire Ant Venom.Toxins · 2023Review
- Article
- To Save Pangolins: A Nutritional Perspective.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Review
- Pathogen Prevalence Modulates Medication Behavior in AntFrontiers in insect science · 2022Article
- The bacterial and fungal community composition in time and space in the nest mounds of the ant Formica exsecta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).MicrobiologyOpen · 2021Article
- Chance or Necessity-The Fungi Co-Occurring withInsects · 2021Article
- A Combined Strategy of Additive Manufacturing to Support Multidisciplinary Education in Arts, Biology, and Engineering.Journal of science education and technology · 2021Article
- Formicine ants swallow their highly acidic poison for gut microbial selection and control.eLife · 2020Article
- Formic Acid as an Antimicrobial for Poultry Production: A Review.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2020Review
- Article
- External immunity in ant societies: sociality and colony size do not predict investment in antimicrobials.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Wood ants fight pathogens by incorporating tree resin with antimicrobial properties into their nests. They also produce large quantities of formic acid in their venom gland, which they readily spray to defend or disinfect their nest. Mixing chemicals to produce powerful antibiotics is common practice in human medicine, yet evidence for the use of such "defensive cocktails" by animals remains scant. Here, we test the hypothesis that wood ants enhance the antifungal activity of tree resin by treating it with formic acid. In a series of experiments, we document that (i) tree resin had much higher inhibitory activity against the common entomopathogenic fungus
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.