Polyergus lucidus facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Polyergus lucidus |
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Polyergus lucidus is a special kind of ant found in the eastern United States. It's known as a "slave-making ant" because it can't take care of itself or its young without help. These ants rely completely on other ants, usually from the Formica family, to do all the work like finding food and raising their babies. Think of them as "parasitic" ants, meaning they depend on others. The ants they depend on are called "hosts."
What Does This Ant Look Like?
P. lucidus is one of six similar ant species, mostly found in eastern North America. These ants are usually orange-red or dark-red. They have long legs and antennae, which are often dark. Their bodies don't have many hairs, especially on their back part (called the gaster).
A worker ant is about 5.7 to 7.1 millimeters long. Its head is longer than it is wide and has about a dozen short bristles. The ant is red, but its legs and the tip of its gaster often look brownish. The name lucidus means "shiny" in Latin. This ant is the shiniest in its group! Its middle body part (mesonotum) and gaster are very glossy, and its head is also quite shiny.
How Do Slave-Making Ants Live?
P. lucidus ants cannot feed themselves or raise their own young. Like other ants in its group, it raids the nests of other ant species. They carry off the young ants (pupae) to their own nest. When these pupae grow up, they become workers in the P. lucidus colony.
For P. lucidus, the main host species is Formica incerta. Sometimes, people thought they used other Formica species, but this was usually a mistake in identifying the ants. P. lucidus colonies only raid nests of the host species they already have in their own nest. This was an early clue that these ants are very picky about their hosts. If they accidentally brought back pupae from a different ant species, they would likely just eat them. Scientists used to think these ants learned which hosts to use. Now, they believe that knowing which host to use is a natural trait that each Polyergus species is born with.
Where Do These Ants Live?
P. lucidus is found in the eastern United States. It lives almost everywhere its host species, Formica incerta, can be found. Its home range stretches from New England and Wisconsin down to the Carolinas and Missouri. However, you won't find it in Kansas or Nebraska. These ants usually live in open areas like prairies, pastures, and old fields.
