Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- proper noun A taxonomic
genus within thesubfamily Formicinae — the Amazon ants.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Pierre Huber, son of the famous entomologist, was the first to describe the slave-making instincts in a species (_Polyergus rufescens_) noted for its predaceous instincts, and subsequent observations have shown that other species participate in these habits.
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A well-known ant, the _Formica sanguinea_, found in the South of England, is however, a true slave-making species, but exhibits no such utter dependence on its servitors as does _Polyergus_.
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This increase of the value of the slaves as active factors in the ant community might at length proceed to such extremes as we see exemplified in the _Polyergus_, already referred to -- a race which has become literally unable to feed itself, and to discharge the simplest duties of ant existence, and whose actual life is entirely spent in marauding expeditions on the nests of its neighbors.
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The slaves in this instance rarely leave the nest, the masters foraging for food, and employing their captives in household work, as it were; whilst, when the work of emigration occurs, the masters carry the slaves in their mouths like household goods and chattels, instead of being carried by them, as in the case of _Polyergus_.
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Among the treasures of my harmas-laboratory, I place in the first rank an Ant-hill of Polyergus rufescens, the celebrated Red Ant, the slave-hunting Amazon.
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Polyergus - Slave-Raiding Ant. Illinois, USA. filename: PolyergusIL4
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Polyergus - Slave-Raiding Ant. Illinois, USA. filename: PolyergusIL4
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Polyergus - Slave-Raiding Ant. Illinois, USA. filename: PolyergusIL4
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Polyergus - Slave-Raiding Ant. Illinois, USA. filename: PolyergusIL4
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Polyergus - Slave-Raiding Ant. Illinois, USA. filename: PolyergusIL4
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