Ant-plant-interactions

Guides

• Pogonomyrmex barbatus

  red harvester ant, red ant

  Pogonomyrmex barbatus is a large harvester ant native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Colonies construct underground nests up to 2.5 meters deep in exposed areas, often marked by conspicuous cleared nest disks. Workers forage primarily for seeds, with foraging activity regulated through olfactory interactions involving brief antennal contacts that assess cuticular hydrocarbon profiles and seed odors. The species exhibits notable physiological variation among colonies in desiccation tolerance and foraging behavior, with some colonies reducing foraging in dry conditions while others maintain activity.

  harvester-antseed-dispersalmyrmecochorydesiccation-physiologydependent-lineage-systemnestmate-recognitionSchmidt-Sting-Pain-Indexkeystone-speciesindigenous-useant-plant-interactions

• Polyergus

  Amazon ants, slave-raiding ants, slave-making ants

  Polyergus is a genus of 14 described species of obligate slave-making ants found throughout the northern hemisphere. Workers possess highly specialized dagger-like mandibles adapted for piercing the heads of host ants during raids, but have lost the ability to perform brood care or feed themselves. All colonies depend entirely on captured workers from the genus Formica to perform nest maintenance, foraging, and brood rearing. New colonies are founded when a single queen invades an existing Formica nest, eventually killing the host queen and assuming control of the worker force.

  slave-makingdulosissocial-parasitismFormicidaeFormicinaebehavioral-evolutionobligatory-parasitismant-plant-interactionscommunity-ecologyholarctic-distribution