Polyergus is a small genus of ants with 14 described species. They are also referred to by the names "slave-raiding ants" and "Amazon ants". They are characterized by their habit of raiding nests (of Formica) for workers. Polyergus workers are incapable of caring for brood, for the most part due to their dagger-like, piercing mandibles.

Feb 7, 2025 · Trager (2013) - Polyergus is a well-known ant genus, at least to Holarctic myrmecologists. These ants’ summer-afternoon raids against colonies of Formica species have caught the attention of naturalists and entomologists for over two centuries.

Feb 24, 2025 · The various Polyergus species, currently thought to be fourteen worldwide, usually raid and only cohabit with certain Formica species. The degree of host specificity varies from only one host species, to several related species.

Feb 24, 2025 · Polyergus mexicanus carries home a killed worker of Formica incerta. The latter were mostly killed by punctures to the gaster, and a dose of Polyergus venom. Photo by James Trager, taken in Missouri. Near her nest, a Polyergus worker carrying Formica incerta prey is joined by two of her normal host, Formica subsericea, con-colonials.

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

Polyergus is a small genus of ants with 14 described species. They are also referred to by the names "slave-raiding ants" and "Amazon ants". They are characterized by their habit of raiding nests (of Formica) for workers.

Polyergus breviceps is a species of ant endemic to the United States. It is a social parasite of other ants, namely of Formica gnava but also of Formica occulta and Formica argentea. [2] Polyergus is an inquiline parasite, having lost its ability to take care of its young and themselves.

Oct 24, 2013 · Polyergus (Latreille 1804) is a predominantly holarctic genus of ants that contains 14 species, 11 of which are present in North America (Trager 2013). All Polyergus display obligate dulotic...

Polyergus lucidus is a shiny red colored species with a northern distribution that ranges as far south as Missouri and the Carolinas. The species name " lucidus " means shiny. Taxonomic History (from Trager 2013, Bolton 2014)

Polyergus mexicanus is a reddish-brown species that is widely distributed in the western US and east to Indiana and Arkansas,ranging south into Durango and Chihuahua Mexico and north to Alberta, Canada. This common species has a fairly wide variety of hosts in the F. fusca and neogagates groups.