New research details how ants can tell each other apart in order to maintain the division of labor, as well as identify any colony intruders.

According to The Washington Post, authors of a study published in the journal Cell Reports learned ants are highly sensitive to each other's body odor. The researchers set out to uncover how individuals in the group could work together so cohesively if they all appeared the same to one another.

These highly nuanced smells help ants in a colony determine hierarchy as well as job assignments. But each colony has its own specific odor, and outsiders detected in a colony they do not belong in are sometimes killed, The Post reported.

"To our surprise, these very low volatility compounds are not only detected sensitively by specialized antennal sensors, but almost all of the hydrocarbon components are detected," study lead author Anandasankar Ray, a neuroscientist at the University of California, Riverside, said in a press release. "Using this amazing high-definition ability to smell 'ant body odor,' the ants can recognize the various castes in the colony as well as intruders from another colony.

"This is a remarkable evolutionary solution for 'social networking' in large colonies.

"A more volatile body odor cue would be confusing to associate with an individual and could overwhelm the olfactory system of the colony members by constantly activating it."

For their study, the researchers used highly sensitive technology that picked up the insects' subtle, yet distinct odor. They tested their sense of smell by measuring responses of individual neurons in the ants' antennae.

"These guys can smell almost any hydrocarbon we offered to them," Ray told The Post. "Along with it, we also discovered not only did they have a very extensive olfactory system, they are also able to distinguish very well between very closely related [compounds]. They are able to tell the difference between a hydrocarbon with 25 carbon atoms versus 24 atoms."