Slave raid of P.americanus a obligatory social parasitic ant
Channel: didinium0815
Date: 2011-09-02

Slave raid of the obligatory social parasitic ant Protomognathus americanus (the bigger black ants about 3-4mm long) invading a  Temnothorax curvispinosus (smaller reddish-brown ants about 2-3mm) nest.  
This is an HD video of the raiding activity of P.americanus a obligatory slavemaker. This social parasite depends on the workers of a different species to rear their young. These so called slaves are acquired during attacks on the colony of a different species. these attacks are called raiding events. P.americanus ants are in constant search for new host colonies to attack, After they find a new target they recruit a raiding party (more parasites and some slaves from the home nest) and attack the colony. At this point it becomes a race against time for the host species. They try to evacuate the nest and rescue all their brood while P. americanus tires to gain control of the nest site and secure as much brood as possible. In this case T.curvispinosus manages to pin down the intruders while their sisters rescue all the brood. A successful defense!