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 due to habitat loss, 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.