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FORMIC ACID MATH. "The beetle reloads the glands at a rate of 126 μg of formic acid per day. For the approximately 500 secretory cells of the glands, this means an hourly output of 10 ng of formic acid per cell, or about 5% of cell volume. Replenishing empty glands to their full formic acid load takes the beetle an estimated 37 days. Replenishing the 0.7 mg of formic acid expended in a single discharge takes 5.5 days." https://lnkd.in/eRxPvPM View in LinkedIn

BEETLE FORMIC ACID. "The carabid beetle Galerita lecontei has a pair of abdominal defensive glands that secrete a mixture of formic acid, acetic acid, and lipophilic components...Formic acid, at the concentration of 80%, is the principal constituent. The beetle ejects the secretion as a spray, which it aims accurately toward parts of the body subjected to assault. At full capacity, the glands store 4.5 mg of formic acid (3% of body mass), enough for upward of six ejections." https://lnkd.in/eRxPvPM View in LinkedIn

ACID TEST. "A group of birds with an average of 732 feather mites spread their wings over a nest of Formica rufa ants. In twelve hours 253 mites were dead. An equal number of birds that were not allowed to ant were counted. There were an average of 758 mites in this group." https://lnkd.in/ezVJ9Rk View in LinkedIn

ANTING BY BIRDS. "It's also likely that formic acid's biocidal properties make ant hills handy pit-stops for many species of bird. 'Anting', a behaviour in which birds are seen to squat and preen over ant nests, is thought by some to encourage the ants to release their formic acid, thus helping to control bird parasites." https://lnkd.in/eFTfaPq View in LinkedIn

HOIST ON YOUR OWN PETARD. Anteaters "are not known for their aversion to ants, but if their prey had a sense of poetic justice, they might appreciate, as they are drawn into the anteater's stomach, that they will - literally - stew in their own juices. Thanks to the ants' formic acid, anteaters have no need to produce the hydrochloric acid many other mammals use to promote digestion - their food conveniently helps to digest itself." https://lnkd.in/eFTfaPq View in LinkedIn

POISON FROG SKIN'S chemicals come from their ant diet. "All of the alkaloids in frog and toad skin that appear to originate by sequestration from myrmicine ants contain unbranched carbon skeletons. Coccinellid beetles appear to be a dietary source for the coccinellines and some of the structurally related tricyclic alkaloids." https://lnkd.in/eiZkGrh View in LinkedIn

FORMIC ACID FUNGICIDE. "In invasive garden ants, grooming of fungus-exposed brood is effective beyond the sheer mechanical removal of fungal conidiospores; it also includes chemical disinfection through the application of poison produced by the ants themselves. Formic acid is the main active component of the poison. It inhibits fungal growth of conidiospores remaining on the brood surface after grooming and also those collected in the mouth of the grooming ant." https://lnkd.in/ePYNRJu View in LinkedIn

INDEX CASES. "The concern comes after scientists found that a small number of people who died from Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) after being treated with growth hormone taken from cadavers, developed brain changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease." http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/09/protein-linked-to-alzheimers-could-be-spread-during-surgery-say-researchers View in LinkedIn

HERBICIDE. "Here we show that the ant Myrmelachista schumanni, which nests in D. hirsuta stems, creates devil's gardens by poisoning all plants except its host plants with formic acid. By killing these other plants, M. schumanni provides its colonies with abundant nest sites — a long-lasting benefit as colonies can live for 800 years." https://lnkd.in/eXFetfk View in LinkedIn

CONTAMINATION. "Researchers called for further work into the possibility that metal instruments used in medical procedures could pick up harmful proteins which survive conventional sterilisation with formaldehyde." http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/09/protein-linked-to-alzheimers-could-be-spread-during-surgery-say-researchers View in LinkedIn