"Only five of the world's more than 15,000 ant species exist without a queen," notes Lin. And the cannibal ant, which is endemic to Taiwan and Okinawa, is one of the five. In place of the typical queen model, cannibal ants share egg-laying responsibilities among all the worker ants, thereby increasing their chances of survival.
「在全世界 1 萬 5000 多種螞蟻中，無蟻后階級的螞蟻種類只有 5 種，」林宗岐表示，粗角蟻打破了螞蟻群落繁衍最關鍵的蟻后機制，而把生殖的責任分配給每隻工蟻，以便提高生存機率。