| Colobopsis saundersi | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Formicinae |
| Genus: | Colobopsis |
| Species: | C. saundersi
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| Binomial name | |
| Colobopsis saundersi (Emery, 1889)
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| Synonyms | |
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Colobopsis saundersi (synonym Camponotus saundersi), also called the Malaysian exploding ant, is a species of ant found in Malaysia and Brunei, belonging to the genus Colobopsis. A worker can explode suicidally and aggressively as an ultimate act of defense, an ability it has in common with several other species in this genus and a few other insects.[1] The ant has an enormously enlarged mandibular gland, many times the size of other ants, which produces adhesive secretions for defense.[2] According to a 2018 study, this species forms a species complex and is probably related to C. explodens, which is part of the C. cylindrica group.[3]
- ^ Jones, T. H.; Clark, D. A.; Edwards, A. A.; Davidson, D. W.; Spande, T. F.; Snelling, Roy R. (2004). "The chemistry of exploding ants, Camponotus spp. (cylindricus complex)". Journal of Chemical Ecology. 30 (8): 1479–1492. doi:10.1023/B:JOEC.0000042063.01424.28. PMID 15537154. S2CID 23756265.
- ^ Betz, Oliver (2010). "Adhesive Exocrine Glands in Insects: Morphology, Ultrastructure, and Adhesive Secretion". In von Byern, Janek; Grunwald, Ingo (eds.). Biological Adhesive Systems. pp. 111–152. doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-0286-2_8. ISBN 978-3-7091-0141-4.
- ^ Laciny, A.; Zettel, H.; Kopchinskiy, A.; Pretzer, C.; Pal, A.; Salim, K.A.; Rahimi, M.J; Hoenigsberger, M.; Lim, L.; Jaitrong, W.; Druzhinina, IS (2018). "Colobopsis explodens sp. n., model species for studies on "exploding ants" (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), with biological notes and first illustrations of males of the Colobopsis cylindrica group". ZooKeys (751): 1–40. doi:10.3897/zookeys.751.22661. PMC 5919914. PMID 29706783.