Dracula Ant
Mystrium Camillae
- Color: Reddish-brown to orange
- Worker size: 3-6 millimetres
- Colony size: <200
- Queen: 8-10 millimetres, ICF
Introduction
Dracula Ants are a type of ant with terrible parenting skills. Their workers range from 3-6 mm long and are reddish-brown. They live in rotting wood and under rocks. Their queens are 8-10 mm in size.
Unique Traits
Bloody Traditions
Dracula Ants cannot digest normal food, so they get their food from a very disturbing food source: their babies. Dracula Ants can’t digest their food because their petioles are too thin. Dracula Ants suck hemolymph out of their larvae, which is the equivalent of ant blood. This type of cannibalism is called non-destructive cannibalism because it doesn’t kill their larvae, but leaves scars on them all the same. Dracula Ants don’t regurgitate food to their nestmates. So, the queen can’t get food from the nestmates. Consequently, she is forced to drink hemolymph.
Speedy Snappers
Dracula Ants have the fastest appendage movement in the world! Their jaws can snap at 200 mph! Well, how do they do that? Well, Dracula Ants use internal mechanisms to achieve that. First of all, their jaws press together hard, so that the pressure builds up, making the jaws push into each other. Their jaws are very flexible, so they move forward to store some energy. Because Dracula Ant mandibles are very flat, they easily slide over each other. This makes it effectively snap. Usually, one Dracula Ant mandible is the one that strikes the hardest, while the other is sort of the spring for the one that strikes.
Defences
Dracula Ant’s mandibles can stun or even kill prey. It can also snap its mandibles to escape danger. Dracula Ants are also nocturnal.
Habitat & Diet
They live in the tropics of Southeast Asia, Madagascar, and Australia. Dracula Ants drink hemolymph, but they still hunt. They hunt alone, or sometimes in small groups. They prefer to hunt in low-light scenarios. Dracula Ants also hunt in tunnels or in dead leaves, so they can easily ambush and attack in confined spaces.
Sources:
- https://canada-ant-colony.com/products/vampire-ant#:~:text=Air%20humidity:,Queen%20+%2050%2D100%20workers.
- https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/Larval_Hemolymph_Feeding
- https://www.taxonomyaustralia.org.au/post/dracula-ants-drink-the-blood-of-their-children-and-pack-the-world-s-fastest-punch#:~:text=Dracula%20ants%20also%20have%20what,haemolymph%20is%20their%20only%20food.
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dracula-ants-snapping-jaws-are-fastest-known-appendage-any-animal-180971061/#:~:text=When%20gearing%20up%20into%20snapping,animal%20speeds%20with%20unprecedented%20accuracy.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9dsINb64Q0
- https://www.bestantsuk.com/post/dracula-ants-the-fastest-animal-on-earth-and-other-fascinating-facts#:~:text=These%20ants%20can%20not%20bite,the%20previous%20record%20by%20threefold.
- https://www.antstore.net/shop/en/ants/Ants-from-Asia/Mystrium-oculatum-camillae.html
- https://www.taxonomyaustralia.org.au/post/dracula-ants-drink-the-blood-of-their-children-and-pack-the-world-s-fastest-punch