What Is This - A Suicide Bomber For Ants?!

A feature in the Washington Post this morning highlighted a newly-discovered bug from the jungles of Southeast Asia. What makes this tiny (Google – how many legs do ants have?) six-legged creature noteworthy?

It explodes — killing itself — and coats adversaries in a toxic yellow goo, the ultimate act of self-sacrifice to protect its colony.

Well shit. And it’s one of 15 different kinds of exploding insects. And apparently the goo smells like curry. Use that info to impress some ladies in the bar tonight, trust me.

I don’t know how ants reproduce and it’s Friday so I’m too lazy to Google any further. But I imagine there’s a lot of antennas flying around when these ‘lil dudes combust & ascend to their 72 virgins. (Which is 438 legs. Big tangly mess. Would watch.)