Kingdom Animalia Subfamily Myrmicinae Genus Myrmoxenus Phylum Arthropoda Rank Species | Family Formicidae Tribe Formicoxenini Scientific name Epimyrma ravouxi Higher classification Epimyrma Order Hymenopterans | |
 | ||
Similar Myrmoxenus, Harpagoxenus, Hymenopterans, Harpagoxenus sublaevis, Strongylognathus | ||
Ravoux's slavemaker ant (Myrmoxenus ravouxi) is a species of slave-making ant endemic to Europe. The species are helotistic, that is, they oppress another species of ant in order to sustain their colony. The queen will fake death to entice ants from another colony to drag her back to their nest, where she awakens and kills the nest's original queen. She will then cover herself in the dead queen's pheromones, and will begin producing eggs. The slavemaker ants then overrun the colony and then find a new colony to take over.
References
Ravoux's slavemaker ant Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA