Polyergus rufescens
| Polyergus rufescens | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Genus: | Polyergus |
| Species: | P. rufescens |
| Binomial name | |
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Polyergus rufescens Latreille, 1798 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Formica rufescens Latreille, 1798 Polyergus testacea (Fabricius, 1804) |
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Formica rufescens Latreille, 1798 Polyergus testacea (Fabricius, 1804)
Polyergus rufescens is a species of slave-making ant native to southern Europe and parts of Asia, commonly referred to as the European Amazon ant or as the slave-making ant. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look after the colony and reliant on ants of another species to undertake these tasks. To replenish these servant ants, it raids nearby ant colonies and carries home pupae and larvae, and these are reared to provide future workers for the colony. A newly mated female P. rufescens needs to make its way into one of these "host" nests, kill the host queen, and be accepted by the host workers in her place.
P. rufescens workers in western and southwestern Europe are dark red, while eastern specimens are more orange-red. Darker ants often have a purplish or brownish tinge to their gasters and appendages. Morphologically, ants of this species are similar to the Mexican Polyergus topoffi, but have narrower heads and petioles and the first tergites of their gasters are more hairy. The total length of this ant is 4.7 to 7 mm (0.19 to 0.28 in).
P. rufescens is native to parts of Europe including Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Its range also extends into Asia as far east as the mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and western China. Its habitat is typically open, sparse grassland, wherever its host species are to be found. The host species vary in different parts of the range and include F. cunicularia, F. fusca, F. rufibarbis, F. clara, F. gagates, and F. cinerea. The main host species in the eastern part of the range is F. clara and in general, the species chosen is the one most abundant in the locality or that can be raided with the least mortality.
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Wikipedia