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Authors
Csata, Enikő
Erős, Katalin
Szabó, Ágota
Bernadou, Abel
Rákosy, László
Markó, Bálint
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Funding
Funding for this research was provided by:
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
CNCS/CCCDI - UEFISCDI (25/2024 COFUND-BIODIVMON-MonitAnt)
CNCS–UEFISCDI (PN-II-RU-TE-2014-4-1930)
Bolyai János Scholarship, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
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Article History
Received: 25 November 2025
Accepted: 9 March 2026
First Online: 17 March 2026
Declarations
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: This work was conducted in accordance with the ASAB/ABS Guidelines for the use of animals in research. Ants are invertebrates, and more specifically the study subject Formica exsecta is not protected by any law, so there is not any requirement for special permissions for experimentation with. However, an ethical visa was obtained in accordance with the existing institutional regulations of the Babeș-Bolyai University. Ants were handled with extreme care during the experiments. When checking colonies for infected ants, or when mimicking the appearance of infected ant corpses by fixing a single experimental carcass on a grass blade we tried to minimize disturbance. Furthermore, the study was non-invasive and involved observation in the field where ant colonies were free to do their daily activity for example foraging without any disturbance.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare no competing interests.
