As soon as the ants start streaming across the screen in the video “Ants Africa,” you know trouble is afoot — on many, many feet actually.

You know this partly because 36 seconds into the video, these words appear on screen: “A raiding column of female ants is on the hunt for prey,” and partly because of the ominous bass-driven music, “Mind Heist,” from the trailer to the movie “Inception.”

Clearly, this video is not going to have a happy ending.

These are predatory ants. They are fast. They are numerous. And they are living the purpose-driven life, the purpose being to kill some termites for lunch. Sure enough, the screen informs us, “Within a few minutes, a thousand termites are dead.”

“Ants Africa” is the winner in the Open category in the 2012 YouTube Your Entomology Contest, a competition sponsored by the Entomological Society of America, which just ended its annual meeting in Knoxville. The entries in this category and others can be viewed online, along with videos from the past three years. The contest started in 2009, and the top winners receive $200 and a trophy. Video: Watch a selection of the contest entries.