The first forager to encounter the intruder rushed back into the nest, laying an odor trail as it ran, while frantically contacting one nestmate after the other. Both minor workers and soldiers then poured out of the nest, zigzagging and circling in a search for the fire ant worker. When they found it they attacked it viciously. The minor workers bit and pulled its legs, while the soldiers, employing their sharp mandibles and powerful adductor muscles that fill their swollen heads, simply chopped off the appendages of the fire ant to render it helpless.
