Polyergus lucidus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Formicinae |
Genus: | Polyergus |
Species: | P. lucidus
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Binomial name | |
Polyergus lucidus Mayr, 1870
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Polyergus lucidus is a species of slave-making ant in the subfamily Formicinae endemic to the eastern United States. It is an obligatory social parasite, unable to feed itself or look after its brood and reliant on ants of another species of the genus Formica to undertake these tasks. Parasitic ants are known as "dulotics" (from the Greek δοῦλος doulos, meaning a slave) and the ants they parasitise are known as "hosts".