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Slave-raiding Ant
Slave-making ants are brood parasites that capture broods of other ant species to increase the worker force of their colony. After emerging in the slave-maker nest, slave workers work as if they were in their own colony, while parasite workers only concentrate on replenishing the labor force from neighboring host nests, a process called slave raiding. The slave-making ants are specialized to parasitize a single species or a group of related species, and they are often close relatives to their hosts, which is typical for social parasites. The slave-makers may either be permanent social parasites (thus depending on enslaved ants throughout their whole lives) or facultative slave-makers. The behavior is unusual among ants but has evolved several times independently. Terminology Theft of brood for the purpose of employing the stolen individual's efforts in support of the thief is called dulosis (from Greek , "slave"), but the term "slave-making" is used in older literature and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyergus Lucidus With Host Formica Archboldi
''Polyergus'' is a small genus of ants with 14 described species. They are also referred to by the names "Slave-raiding ants" or "Amazon ants". They are characterized by their habit of raiding nests (of Formica) for workers. Reproduction ''Polyergus'' workers are incapable of caring for brood, for the most part due to their dagger-like, piercing Mandible (insect mouthpart), mandibles. As such, they have evolved to rely on certain species of ants in the genus ''Formica''. They have lost the instinct for carrying out even rudimentary brood care, and even for feeding themselves (which they are unable to do). ''Polyergus'' 'workers' exist more as a force of improvised soldiers, acting in essence solely to raid the ''Formica'' nests. The captured ants are generally referred to as "slaves" in scientific and popular literature, though recent attempts have been made to apply other human cultural models. Some of these describe the ''Polyergus'' as "raiders", "pirates", or "kidnappers". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strongylognathus
''Strongylognathus'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Many of its species are endemic to specific regions. Species *'' Strongylognathus afer'' Emery, 1884 *'' Strongylognathus alboini'' Finzi, 1924 *'' Strongylognathus alpinus'' Wheeler, 1909 *'' Strongylognathus arnoldii'' Radchenko, 1985 *'' Strongylognathus caeciliae'' Forel, 1897 *'' Strongylognathus chelifer'' Radchenko, 1985 *''Strongylognathus christophi'' Emery, 1889 *'' Strongylognathus dalmaticus'' Baroni Urbani, 1969 *'' Strongylognathus destefanii'' Emery, 1915 *'' Strongylognathus huberi'' Forel, 1874 *''Strongylognathus insularis'' Baroni Urbani, 1968 *''Strongylognathus italicus'' Finzi, 1924 *''Strongylognathus kabakovi'' Radchenko & Dubovikov, 2011 *''Strongylognathus karawajewi'' Pisarski, 1966 *''Strongylognathus kervillei'' Santschi, 1921 *''Strongylognathus koreanus'' Pisarski, 1966 *''Strongylognathus kratochvili'' Silhavy, 1937 *''Strongylognathus minutus'' Radchenko, 1991 *''Strongylognat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epimyrma
''Myrmoxenus'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The genus was synonymized under ''Temnothorax'' by Ward ''et al.'' (2015), but the change was not accepted by Heinze ''et al.'' (2015) due to insufficient available data. Species *''Myrmoxenus adlerzi'' (Douwes, Jessen & Buschinger, 1988) *''Myrmoxenus africana'' (Bernard, 1948) *''Myrmoxenus algeriana'' (Cagniant, 1968) *''Myrmoxenus bernardi'' (Espadaler, 1982) *''Myrmoxenus birgitae'' (Schulz, 1994) *''Myrmoxenus corsica'' (Emery, 1895) *'' Myrmoxenus gordiagini'' Ruzsky, 1902 *''Myrmoxenus kraussei'' (Emery, 1915) *''Myrmoxenus ravouxi'' (André, 1896) Ravoux's slavemaker ant *''Myrmoxenus stumperi'' (Kutter, 1950) *''Myrmoxenus tamarae'' (Arnol'di, 1968) *''Myrmoxenus zaleskyi ''Myrmoxenus'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The genus was synonymized under '' Temnothorax'' by Ward ''et al.'' (2015), but the change was not accepted by Heinze ''et al.'' (2015) due to insufficient available data. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chalepoxenus
''Temnothorax'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains more than 380 species. Biology The workers of ''Temnothorax'' species are generally small. Colonies are typically monogynous, although facultative polygyny has been documented in several species. Colony populations are usually quite small, often with less than 100 workers. However, several studies have found colonies of some species to be widely dispersed with several to many satellite nests. Many species are arboreal, living within hollow stems, old beetle or termite galleries, or in galls. ''Temnothorax'' species appear to be trophic generalists, feeding on a wide variety of scavenged items, including the elaiosomes of seeds. None have been documented to be active or aggressive predators. Phylogenetics Recent molecular phylogenetic studies show that the genera ''Chalepoxenus'', ''Myrmoxenus'' and ''Protomognathus'' are nested within ''Temnothorax'', and that the latter is distinct from the more distant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leptothorax
''Leptothorax'' is a genus of small ants with mainly Holarctic distributions. The genus is notable for its widespread social parasitism, i.e. they are dependent on the help of workers from other ant species during a part or the whole of their life cycles. Closely related genera are ''Cardiocondyla'', '' Stereomyrmex'' and '' Romblonella''. Species *''Leptothorax acervorum ''Leptothorax acervorum'' is a small brown to yellow ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It was first described by Johan Christian Fabricius in 1793. ''L. acervorum'' is vastly distributed across the globe, most commonly found in the coniferous fore ...'' (Fabricius, 1793) *'' Leptothorax acervorum vandeli'' (Bondroit, 1920) *'' Leptothorax athabasca'' Buschinger & Schulz, 2008 *'' Leptothorax buschingeri'' Kutter, 1967 *'' Leptothorax calderoni'' Creighton, 1950 *'' Leptothorax crassipilis'' Wheeler, 1917 *'' Leptothorax faberi'' Buschinger, 1983 *'' Leptothorax goesswaldi'' Kutter, 1967 *'' Leptothorax gredle ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formica Fusca
''Formica fusca'' is a black-colored ant commonly found throughout Europe as well as parts of Southern Asia and Africa. It has the common names silky ant or dusky ant. The range within the palaearctic region extends from Portugal in the west to Japan in the east and from Italy in the south to Fennoscandia in the north. Populations from North America have been split off as a separate species, ''Formica subaenescens''. ''F. fusca'' nests are usually found in rotten tree stumps or under stones in clearcut areas and along woodland borders and hedgerows. Eusociality Colonies are facultatively polygynous (though weakly so); though the queens coexist amicably, contribution to the brood tends to be unequal. Nests are usually small, containing 500–2,000 workers. The workers are large, at long, and fast moving, though timid. To ensure that non-nest mate eggs are not reared, these workers will engage in a process known as worker policing. Alate (winged) forms are produced in June/July an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formica Sanguinea
''Formica sanguinea'', or blood-red ant, is a species of facultative slave-maker ant in the genus ''Formica'' characterized by the ability to secrete formic acid. It ranges from Central and Northern Europe through Russia to Japan, China, the Korean Peninsula, Africa and also the United States. This species is coloured red and black with workers up to 7 mm long. A colony of ''F. sanguinea'' can live either as a free colony or as a social parasite of ''Formica'' species, most commonly ''Formica fusca'', ''Formica japonica'', '' Formica hayashi'' and ''Formica rufibarbis''. Raiding Blood-red ants, ''F. sanguinea'', are facultative slave-makers, meaning colonies can live either alone or be parasitic. This allows them to be a good model organism to study the origins of brood stealing. A fertilized ''F. sanguinea'' queen will enter the nest of the host ant species and kill their queen. She then takes advantage of the workers who tend to her and her brood. ''F. sanguinea'' worker ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formica
''Formica'' is a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, thatching ants, and field ants. ''Formica'' is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae. The type species of genus ''Formica'' is the European red wood ant ''Formica rufa''. Ants of this genus tend to be between 4 and 8 mm long. Habitat As the name wood ant implies, many ''Formica'' species live in wooded areas where no shortage of material exists with which they can thatch their mounds (often called anthills). One shade-tolerant species is '' F. lugubris''. However, sunlight is important to most ''Formica'' species, and colonies rarely survive for any considerable period in deeply shaded, dense woodland. The majority of species, especially outside the ''F. rufa'' species group, are inhabitants of more open woodlands or treeless grassland or shrubland. In North America, at least, these habitats had a long history of frequent landscape-scale fires t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fitness (biology)
Fitness (often denoted w or ω in population genetics models) is the quantitative representation of individual reproductive success. It is also equal to the average contribution to the gene pool of the next generation, made by the same individuals of the specified genotype or phenotype. Fitness can be defined either with respect to a genotype or to a phenotype in a given environment or time. The fitness of a genotype is manifested through its phenotype, which is also affected by the developmental environment. The fitness of a given phenotype can also be different in different selective environments. With asexual reproduction, it is sufficient to assign fitnesses to genotypes. With sexual reproduction, recombination scrambles alleles into different genotypes every generation; in this case, fitness values can be assigned to alleles by averaging over possible genetic backgrounds. Natural selection tends to make alleles with higher fitness more common over time, resulting in Darwin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imprinting (psychology)
In psychology and ethology, imprinting is any kind of phase-sensitive learning (learning occurring at a particular age or a particular life stage) that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behaviour. It was first used to describe situations in which an animal or person learns the characteristics of some stimulus, which is therefore said to be "imprinted" onto the subject. Imprinting is hypothesized to have a critical period. Filial imprinting The best-known form of imprinting is ''filial imprinting'', in which a young animal narrows its social preferences to an object (typically a parent) as a result of exposure to that object. It is most obvious in nidifugous birds, which imprint on their parents and then follow them around. It was first reported in domestic chickens, by Sir Thomas More in 1516 as described in his treatise ''Utopia'', 350years earlier than by the 19th-century amateur biologist Douglas Spalding. It was rediscovered by the early ethologist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proformica
''Proformica'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from the Palearctic realm, from Mongolia through Central Asia to Spain. Colonies are small, generally containing a few hundred individuals, with a single queen ( monogyne) or multiple ergatogyne queens. Unique in the tribe Formicini, some species have specialized workers ("honeypot ants") gorged with food; they function as living storage containers. Parasite host Four species are host to obligate slave-making ants in the genus ''Rossomyrmex'', with each species forming a coevolving pair: *''Rossomyrmex proformicarum''–''Proformica epinotalis'' *''Rossomyrmex quandratinodum''–''Proformica'' sp. *''Rossomyrmex anatolicus''–''Proformica korbi'' *''Rossomyrmex minuchae''–''Proformica longiseta'' Species *''Proformica alaica'' Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1926 *''Proformica buddhaensis'' Ruzsky, 1915 *''Proformica caucasea'' (Santschi, 1925) *'' Proformica coriacea'' Kuznetsov-Ugamsky, 1927 *'' Profor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rossomyrmex
''Rossomyrmex'' is a genus of slave-making ant in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus consists of four species, each with a single host from the genus '' Proformica'', and has a very wide range of distribution from China to southeastern Spain, from huge extended plains to the top of high mountains. Species * ''Rossomyrmex anatolicus'' Tinaut, 2007 – Turkey * ''Rossomyrmex minuchae'' Tinaut, 1981 – Spain * ''Rossomyrmex proformicarum'' Arnol'di, 1928 – Caucasus and Volga plains, Russia * ''Rossomyrmex quandratinodum'' Xia & Zheng, 1995 – Kazakhstan and China Distribution The Asian parasite-host pairs live mostly in extended plains whereas the Spanish pair ''R. minuchae''–''P. longiseta'' inhabits the top of three high mountains in southern Spain. Despite this apparent difference in habitat (extended plains versus high mountains), the abiotic conditions are quite similar and are consistent with a typical arid steppe. However, the main difference ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
