Washington, June 9 (IANS) Argentine ants are marching over the world, spreading into Mediterranean and subtropical climates, vanquishing native ant species, a latest research reports. However a native ant species seems to have halted their victorious tide with the help of chemical warfare, according to a team of Stanford University undergraduate students.

 
 A tiny drop of their venom, injected into an Argentine ant through a bite, is enough to end its life. In lab testing, the poison had a 79 percent kill rate, reports the journal Public Library of Science-ONE.
 
 "This is the first well-documented case where a native species is successfully resisting the Argentine ant," said Deborah M. Gordon, biology professor at Stanford who specializes in studying ants, according to a Stanford statement.
 
 "I did not believe it at first. This is a group of ants that does not have a sting and you don't see them acting aggressively, but the students were able to show very clearly not just that the winter ants are using poison, but when they use it, how they use it and what the impact is," she said.
 
 "If you live in a Mediterranean climate, the Argentine ant is the ant in your kitchen," Gordon said.
 
 "These ants, wherever they become established, wipe out all the native ants," she said.
 
 The Argentine ants are happy at any place that has cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. They have conquered the entire coastline around the Mediterranean Sea, parts of South Africa, Hawaii, Japan and Australia, as well as all of the California coastline.