Oecophylla smaragdina – Guys, is it the lactose?

The green Weaver ant is different from any other ant I know. Ants are tiny insects walking in streets and building groups around tasty things? That’s ants. But Weaver ants are a bit different. More behaving like mantis or jumping spiders – they can see you, and they actively follow you! My impression is, they really know what they are doing. When you come too close, they would give you a very tight hug and bite. I don’t understand how anything can survive in the neighborhood of these ants, or how some animals could become weaver-ant-intruders. That’s like dancing with the devil. Living in trees, between leaves, they fold and glue leaves together as a tent (!). Somehow they manage to pull the leaves together, see the pictures! For the rest of the day, they walk around collecting food. They seem to have the power to take over the world easily, that’s how capable they appear to be. There are other ants with much more impressive-looking bodies, for example the Golden ant or the Black carpenter ant. But they behave like normal ants!

You can watch Weaver ants in the evenings around light sources, where they are trying to catch moths and mosquitos. Or maybe they are just drunken and trying to mess up someone?! For photographers this active, self-confident behavior makes Weaver ants great models. They’ll watch you and threaten you with wide spread teeth. Just keep a bit of a distance. The queens are light green and very large. They can often be found on balconies or in corridors attracted by light, and to be honest, they always seem to be a bit lost.

So what is it with lactose?

Similar to other biting insects, ants, and especially Weaver ants, prefer biting my wife over me. Let’s see if we can find an explanation for that preference:

I couldn’t find papers investigating why ants attack some humans more than others, maybe it is not too relevant for science. But mosquitos are of great interest since they carry serious diseases. And here it is one part of the puzzle: Lactate in the sweat is attractive to mosquitos. Not sure if that is true for Weaver ants, but it would make sense, when we understand that mammals produce lactic acid under strong exercise (anaerobic metabolism). The high level of lactic acid salt (lactate) in the sweat might be a signal for mozzies/ ants that this prey is a defenseless meal! So why is my wife exhausted? She is lactose intolerant, thus lactose is not digested properly so that bacteria oxidize it to lactic acid. I don’t think the insects can make a difference between lactate from exercise and lactate from too much dairy. So does the lactose intolerance cause higher lactic acid levels in my wife’s sweat, giving ants and mozzies the signal that she is exhausted and easy prey? Mhh, I cannot find any prove on that yet, but I like the concept and will continue looking for evidence! Would that mean, that athletes with lactose intolerance have to take that into account for lactate tests? Also there, I cannot find any hints. Is that another part of the puzzle?! As always, the picture how mosquitos pick hosts is not fully clear because it is very complex. My explanations are just my two cents!