Ravoux's slavemaker ant (Temnothorax ravouxi) is a species of slave-making ant endemic to Europe. The species are helotistic, that is, they oppress another species of ant in order to sustain their colony.[2] The queen will fake death to entice ants from another colony to drag her back to their nest, where she awakens and kills the nest's original queen. She will then cover herself in the dead queen's pheromones, and will begin producing eggs. The slavemaker ants then overrun the colony and then find a new colony to take over.[3]
| Ravoux's slavemaker ant | |
|---|---|
| |
| Worker from Italy | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Genus: | Temnothorax |
| Species: | T. ravouxi
|
| Binomial name | |
| Temnothorax ravouxi (André, 1896)
| |
| Synonyms | |
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This species was formerly a member of the genus Myrmoxenus, and before that, the genus Epimyrma.[3]
References
edit- ^ Social Insects Specialist Group. (1996). "Epimyrma ravouxi". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 1996: e.T7844A12854740. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T7844A12854740.en.
- ^ "Slavemaker Ants".
- ^ a b "Species: Temnothorax ravouxi". AntWeb. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
Further reading
edit- Role of early experience in ant enslavement: a comparative analysis of a host and a non-host species, Rumsaïs Blatrix and Claire Sermage, Front Zool. 2005; 2: 13. Published online 2005 August 2. doi:10.1186/1742-9994-2-13.
External links
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Media related to Ravoux's slavemaker ant at Wikimedia Commons
