Social crawlers robbing peasants of food (4)

I believe the answer is:

ants

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'social crawlers' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)

'robbing peasants of food' is the wordplay.
'ANTS' is hidden within the letters.
However, I am unsure how the hidden word is indicated.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ants that I've seen before include "Six-foot insects" , "workers found returning" , "Busy little insects" , "Emmets" , "24 [INSECT] s" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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