Community-ecology
Guides
Oedoparena
Oedoparena is a small genus of flies in the family Dryomyzidae, comprising three known species. It is the only known dipteran genus whose larvae prey on marine barnacles. These flies function as intertidal mesopredators with documented ecological impacts on high intertidal community structure.
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.