They used nail polish to seal the acidopore of one group of crazy ants, and simply sham-treated a second control group. After coming into contact with fire ant

They used nail polish to seal the acidopore of one group of crazy ants, and simply sham-treated a second control group. After coming into contact with fire ant venom, the crazy ants with the sealed acidopores—which could not secrete any chemical defenses—had a survival rate of just 48 percent, whereas 98 percent of the control group survived. Clearly, something originating from the acidopore was increasing the survival of ants covered in venom. Should we give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the nail polish can't cause that effect? edit: having now read the paper, there was no mortality in controls with their acidopore sealed with nail polish.