Formica archboldi is a species of ant in the family Formicidae. They are known for their abnormal behavior, which includes the collection and storage of Odontomachus (trap-jaw) ant skulls.
Formica archboldi | |
---|---|
F. archboldi are the darker-colored ants in this image, the reddish-orange one in the center is a Polyergus lucidus queen | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Formicinae |
Tribe: | Formicini |
Genus: | Formica |
Species: | F. archboldi |
Binomial name | |
Formica archboldi Smith, 1944 |
Formica archboldi ants store these severed ant heads in their nests. The Formica archboldi have odors that are chemically similar to the odors of the trap-jaw ants, which might allow the Formica ants to disguise themselves among the trap-jaw ants. The Formica ants immobilize the trap-jaw ants by spraying formic acid, dragging them into the nest, and dismembering them.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Formica archboldi, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
®Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wiki Foundation, Inc. Wiki English (DUHOCTRUNGQUOC.VN) is an independent company and has no affiliation with Wiki Foundation.