RE: Some species of ants and termites perform suicidal altruism where they explode to protect the rest of the colony from an intruder

[valth]

As far as I understood, it's an act that is carried out by single defenders. The substance that explodes will reach the surrounding area close to the exploding ant, so it would probably hurt the other ants as well if they explode while being with more members of their own colony.