Slave-making
Guides
Formicinae
formicine ants
Formicinae is a large and diverse subfamily of ants characterized by a single-segmented petiole in the form of a vertical scale, reduced stings, and the production of formic acid as a defensive compound. Members retain several primitive features including cocoons around pupae and ocelli in workers. The subfamily includes familiar ants such as carpenter ants (Camponotus), weaver ants (Oecophylla), and honeypot ants (Myrmecocystus). Formicines exhibit diverse ecological strategies including mutualism with sap-feeding hemipterans and specialized slave-making behaviors in some lineages.
Leptothorax canadensis
Northern Thin Ant
Leptothorax canadensis is a small myrmicine ant native to eastern North America, where it is one of the most common ants in boreal coniferous forests. The species exhibits facultative polygyny, with colonies containing multiple fertile queens. It is also known as a slave-making ant, conducting organized raids on host colonies—particularly Leptothorax muscorum—to capture pupae that emerge as workers serving the slave-making colony. Genetic studies indicate a multicolonial population structure with moderate gene flow and no evidence of inbreeding.
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.
Polyergus sanwaldi
Sanwald's Amazon Ant
Polyergus sanwaldi is a dulotic ant species described by Trager in 2013 as part of a global revision of the genus Polyergus. It belongs to the lucidus species group, one of three major groups within the genus. Like all Polyergus species, it is an obligatory social parasite that raids colonies of Formica ants to capture and enslave their brood. The species is named in honor of an individual (Sanwald), following the naming convention for several new species in this revision.
Temnothorax ambiguus
Doubtful Acorn Ant
Temnothorax ambiguus is an ant species in the subfamily Myrmicinae, commonly known as the Doubtful Acorn Ant. It serves as a host species for the obligatory slave-making ant Protomognathus americanus and exhibits facultative slave-making behavior itself. Laboratory studies demonstrate sophisticated larval recognition capabilities, with workers preferentially accepting nestmate larvae and discriminating between conspecific and allospecific brood. The species has been observed in contexts involving cavity-nesting habits typical of the genus, including nesting in hollow nuts and acorns.