''Polyergus lucidus'' is a species of slave-making ant in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Formicinae endemic to the eastern United States. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look after its brood and reliant on ants of another species of the genus '' Formica'' to undertake these tasks. Parasitic ants are known as "dulotics" (from the Greek δοῦλος ''doulos'', meaning a slave) and the ants they

parasitise Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson has ...

are known as "hosts".

Description

''P. lucidus'' is part of a group of six orange-red or dark-red species of ants, mostly from eastern North America, that have long, often dark-coloured

appendage An appendage (or outgrowth) is an external body part, or natural prolongation, that protrudes from an organism's body. In arthropods, an appendage refers to any of the homologous body parts that may extend from a body segment, including anten ...

s and few hairs on the dorsal surface of the gaster. The worker is long and has a head longer than it is wide, crowned with about a dozen short setae (bristles). It is red with the legs and the tip of the gaster often being tinged with brown. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''lucidus'' means "shiny" and this ant is the shiniest in the group and has a glossy mesonotum and gaster, and a moderately shiny head.

Behaviour

''P. lucidus'' is incapable of feeding itself or rearing its young without assistance. Like other members of its genus, it raids the nests of another species of ants and carries off the pupae to be reared in the dulotic nest where, when they emerge, they function as workers. In the case of ''P. lucidus'', the host species is '' Formica incerta'', and reports of '' Formica pallidefulva'' and '' Formica schaufussi'' in dulotic nests of ''P. lucidus'', e.g., result from misidentifications, corrected in Trager's work. Colonies of ''P. lucidus'' and its close relatives only raid nests of the slave species already present in the dulotic nest, an early clue that these host specialists might, in fact, be separate species. On the odd occasion when the nest of a different ant species was raided, the pupae brought back to the dulotic nest were likely to be consumed. In the past, it was suggested that worker dulotics obtain their preferences by imprinting, but it is now deemed more likely the host preference is an innate, evolved trait of each species.

Distribution

''P. lucidus'' is native to the eastern United States and occurs almost everywhere that its host species is found. Its range extends from New England and Wisconsin southwards to the

Carolinas The Carolinas are the U.S. states of North Carolina and South Carolina, considered collectively. They are bordered by Virginia to the north, Tennessee to the west, and Georgia to the southwest. The Atlantic Ocean is to the east. Combining Nort ...

and Missouri, but it is absent from Kansas and Nebraska. It is generally found in prairies, pastures, and old fields.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q5223515 Formicinae Slave-making ants Hymenoptera of North America Insects of the United States Endemic fauna of the United States Insects described in 1870 Taxa named by Gustav Mayr Taxonomy articles created by Polbot