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Slave-raiding Acorn Ant
Temnothorax americanus
Temnothorax americanus is a species of slave-maker ant in the genus Temnothorax. The ants are 2–3 mm in size, and endemic to the northeastern United States and adjacent Canadian regions. They do not forage for food, but instead 'scout workers' from the colony seek out nearby host colonies of ants (e.g. Temnothorax longispinosus), steal larvae and bring them back to their own colony. A small T. americanus colony could consist of a queen, two to five workers and thirty to sixty slaves.
In a study published in Animal Behaviour, researchers showed that T. americanus scouts target stronger colonies over weaker ones to steal larvae from.
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Every page naming Temnothorax americanus 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 424609.