Polyergus Lucidus Formica Incerta Wiki

''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 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". They also describe the ''Formica'' workers as "helper-ants" or "domesticated animals".

''Polyergus'' obtains its ''Formica'' work force by stealing pupae from nearby ''Formica'' colonies and carrying them back to its own nest. Back in the ''Polyergus'' nest, ''Formica'' workers are eventually helped to emerge from the cocoons and pupal exuvia by workers of the same species already living there. The new workers quickly assimilate the characteristic odor of the mixed-species colony — without violence or coercion. The ''Formica'' workers that emerge in the mixed-species colony go on to nurse the brood, forage, maintain the nest, feed their adult captors and the queen, and perform other colony upkeep duties. This may also include defending the Polyergus colony from foreign threats, even fighting against their own birth colony if the situation arises.

As far as is known, all established ''Polyergus'' colonies have only one queen. However, many contain ergatoids, large, worker-like members with large gasters. These may be substitute reproductive individuals after the queen's death, but this has not been proven. To found a new colony, a lone ''Polyergus'' queen invades a nest of the host species, or encounters and moves in with a colony-founding queen of the host species and her first few workers. In the latter case, the host queen is allowed to survive until her little colony has reared a sufficient number of host workers to support the parasite queen, something the ''Polyergus'' queen cannot do herself. The young ''Polyergus'' queen then kills the existing ''Formica'' queen (immediately if sufficient workers are present, later if these are not yet reared) and becomes accepted by the ''Formica'' workers. These proceed to rear the first and all subsequent ''Polyergus'' brood. Clearly, this complicated and lengthy process often fails, as ''Polyergus'' colonies are relatively rare, though each mature colony produces dozens or hundreds of new potential queens each year. To counteract the natural mortality of the ''Formica'' worker population, ''Polyergus'' workers must conduct regular raids over a 6-8 week period, every summer over the 10- to 15-year lifespan of their colony.

Species

The genus ''Polyergus'' is split up into three groups, or "complexes". There's the ''lucidus'' group, the ''rufescens'' group, and the ''samurai'' group.

''lucidus'' group

* '' Polyergus lucidus'' Mayr, 1870 – eastern United States, southern Ontario
* ''Polyergus longicornis'' Smith, 1947 – southeastern United States
* ''Polyergus montivagus'' Wheeler, 1915 – New England states to northern Florida in eastern United States, southern Ontario, Canada and west to Wisconsin and northern New Mexico, United States
* ''Polyergus oligergus'' Trager, 2013 – Florida, United States
* ''Polyergus ruber'' Trager, 2013 – southeastern United States
* ''Polyergus sanwaldi'' Trager, 2013 – United States, New England west to North Dakota

''rufescens'' group

* ''Polyergus rufescens'' (Latreille, 1798) – all of Europe, to western China and Kazakhstan
* ''Polyergus breviceps'' Emery, 1893 – north-central United States, west to Colorado, northern Arizona
* ''Polyergus bicolor'' Wasmann, 1901 – Wisconsin and Michigan, United States, west to North Dakota and south-central Canada
* ''Polyergus mexicanus'' Forel, 1899 – Dakotas and Arkansas, to western United States and Canada, and south at high altitude in mountains of Durango, Mexico.
* ''Polyergus topoffi'' Trager, 2013 – high desert to mid-elevation mountains from Hidalgo, Mexico to southern Arizona, United States
* ''Polyergus vinosus'' Trager, 2013 – southern California to northern Baja California, Mexico

''samurai'' group

* ''Polyergus nigerrimus'' Marikovsky, 1963 – Mongolia, Tuvan Republic, southern Russia
* ''Polyergus samurai'' Yano, 1911 – Japan, Korea, eastern China, southeastern Russia
;''incertae sedis''
* ''Polyergus texanus'' – excluded from ''Polyergus'' by Trager (2013)

References

*

External links

*

antweb.org
- from which the text of this article is derived.

myrmecofourmis.fr
Video of Polyergus rufescens stealing Serviformica pupae

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1774064

Formicinae
Ant genera
Taxa named by Pierre André Latreille