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iNat·69528GenusInsecta1,497 field observations
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  9. ›Formicoidea
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  12. ›Formicini
Amazon Ants
Plate 1 of 9. (c) Yasunori Koide, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · via iNaturalist

Amazon Ants

Polyergus

Polyergus, also called Amazon ants, is a small genus of 14 described species of "slave-raiding" ants. Its workers are incapable of caring for brood, in part due to their dagger-like, piercing mandibles, but more importantly, because in the evolution of their parasitism on certain species of the host genus Formica, they have lost the "behavioral wiring" to carry out even rudimentary brood care, or even to feed themselves. Polyergus workers exist in essence as a specialized...

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3 branches of this genus, most-observed first

rufescens-breviceps-group Amazon Ants

complexPolyergus rufescens

Lucidus-group Amazon Ants

complexPolyergus lucidus

Samurai-group Amazon Ants

complexPolyergus samurai

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Where it lives

Recorded sightings

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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.

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Every page naming Polyergus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →

This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 69528.