Since I can remember myself I always found ants fascinating. And I still love reading and learning about them from time to time.
They are just amazing little buggers don't you agree?
And today I learnt about a species that engages in a really disturbing practice..
Let's first start with a picture:
Meet Adetomyrma venatrix, a small blind ant from the Madagascar. Fyi, the specimen depicted above is a typical worker.
So, what's so unique and disturbing about these ants. Well, they are commonly known as Dracula ants, which gives us a hint... They drink blood, but the source of blood is..their own fucking younglings!
Yep, they often feast on the hemolymph of their own larvae and pupae!
So I guess The Cannibal Dracula would be a more fitting name 😄
Not all is bad though. It turns out that the younglings often survive this brutal behavior and live to grow into healthy adults...that carry on the cannibalistic behavior 😅😂
The whys behind this gruesome behavior are still a mystery but one of the proposed theories is that the hemolyph acts as a much needed supplement for egg production that their natural prey can't provide.
Head of Adetomyrma venatrix worker source
Unfortunately, the species appears to be critically endangered so there is a strong chance we will never get any good answers on their grisly feeding practices.
Ok, I hope you enjoyed reading about yet another bizarre creature with me. Maybe I'll dedicate some of my future posts on some other really bizarre ants. Here's a link to Wikipedia if you'd like to read a bit more on the species.
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