Adetomyrma venatrix

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Adetomyrma venatrix
A blind worker
A winged male

Critically Endangered  (IUCN 2.3)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Adetomyrma
Species:
A. venatrix
Binomial name
Adetomyrma venatrix
Ward, 1994[2]

Adetomyrma venatrix, more commonly known as the Dracula ant, so named because of its grisly feeding habits of drinking the blood of its young, is an

endemic to Madagascar. Workers of this species are blind. The species was described as the type species of Adetomyrma in 1994, with the genus being an atypical member of its tribe
.

Description

Head of a blind worker

Adetomyrma venatrix was described on the basis of specimens belonging to the worker caste collected from Zombitse Forest, in western Madagascar. The key characteristics of the species was the absence of a clear petiole when viewed from above due to the third abdominal tergite (the sclerite on the dorsal side) lacking a differentiated pretergite. The gaster is large and without constrictions. The ant is blind and has a long sting. It was placed with reservations in the tribe

Amblyopone pluto such as the presence of laterosclerite.[4][5]

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T522A13059247.en
    . Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  2. S2CID 85356610
    .
  3. doi:10.1080/00222939700770141. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on December 20, 2021.
  4. S2CID 85305392
    .
  5. ^ Grimaldi, D; D Agosti; J M Carpenter. "New and Rediscovered Primitive Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Cretaceous Amber from New Jersey, and Their Phylogenetic Relationships" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (3208): 1–43.

External links

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