There is something profoundly fascinating about ants, even when they are being a nuisance. In large part, this is because they do so many things that remind us of ourselves, and have been doing them for over 100 million years. Like humans, ants are social, living exclusively in highly organized societies that evolved originally from family groups (in the case of ants, the group consists of a mother and her offspring). Like humans, ants exhibit a seemingly endless variety of complex social behaviors. Ants were the first herders, agriculturalists, and food storage experts. Some ants fight vicious territorial wars, some...

1 Upper plate (tergite) of the last abdominal segment (pygidium) flattened and with a pair of distally converging rows of spines or peg-like teeth (A). (Cerapachyinae). . . . . . . . 2 — Pygidium rounded and without a pair of distally converging rows of spines or peg-like teeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 (1) Antenna 12-segmented. Scape greatly flattened along entire length. Antennal socket without lateral carina. Frontal carinae slightly expanded laterally and sometimes covering part of the antennal insertions (A) . ....

The subfamily Amblyoponinae has a worldwide distribution and is comprised of nine genera, with onlyAmblyopone(four species) and one introduced species ofPrionopeltapresent in North America. The members of this subfamily are mostly cryptobiotic predators that nest in soil or ground litter.

Members of the genusAmblyoponeare specialist predators of certain arthropods, especially centipedes, living in soil or rotten wood. The bizarre feeding habits ofAmblyoponeextend well beyond their prey specialization and have led some to call this group by the evocative name “dracula ants.” Some species ofAmblyoponepractice a form of nonlethal cannibalism in...