An Israeli lab is pioneering research into a little-studied species of ant that has extraordinary building abilities and is found in the tropics, from India to northern Australia.

Weaver ants work in groups. One set forms chains to connect and bend leaves together. Another harnesses silk-producing larva to ‘sew’ the leaves into a hollow, spherical nest.

That nest can accommodate 50,000 of the species.

It is this remarkable behavior that drew the attention of Prof. Ofer Feinerman, who heads a laboratory on collective ant behavior at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, central Israel.

“It’s the most impressive ant that I know, and there are around 15,000 ant species,” he told The Times of Israel.

According to Feinerman, few people have studied this species because collecting the ants is challenging, as is analyzing ant activity across multiple leaves that are moving simultaneously.

Most studies to date have described the behavior. Feinerman said his lab was the first to undertake scientific analysis of it in laboratory conditions.

To collect ants, Feinerman and a colleague, Ehud Fonio, traveled to Queensland in northeastern Australia.

Back in Rehovot, a team led by PhD students Gadi Trocki and Michal Roitman designed an ant arena, with 50 cameras placed around an artificial branch bearing four transparent plastic leaves.

A time-lapse video,........

© The Times of Israel