HOST SPECIFICITY IN RAIDING BEHAVIOR 
OF THE SLAVE-MAKING ANT 
POLYERGUS LUCIDUS 
By Linda Goodloe, 1 Raymond Sanwald, 2 
and Howard Topoff 3 
In the pine barrens of Suffolk County, New York, at least three 
species of Formica (subgenus Neoformica) are used as slaves by the 
obligatory slave-making ant Polyergus lucidus. In any single nest, 
however, only one slave species may be found. This contrasts with 
the sympatric, facultative slave-making ants of the genus Formica 
(subgenus Raptiformica ) in which single colonies often contain two 
or more species of slaves. The slave species exclusivity of P. lucidus 
might result in two ways: (1) raids could be made to only one slave 
species of the four available; or (2) raids could be made to more than 
one slave species, but the captured pupae could be consumed differ- 
entially by the resident slaves, favoring the survival to eclosion of 
only one slave species. This paper reports the results of a study 
demonstrating that colonies of P. lucidus will, if given a choice, raid 
only colonies of the slave species already present in the mixed nest. 
Since scouts typically lead nestmates to target Formica nests (Cool- 
Kwait & Topoff, 1984), this selective process must occur through 
the perceptions and actions of the scouts. 
Method 
The field study was conducted on a two-acre site in Suffolk 
County previously described in Goodloe & Sanwald (1985). Two 
colonies of P. lucidus were collected in late spring of 1985 near 
Rocky Point, N.Y. One colony, P/S#l, contained slaves of the spe- 
cies Formica schaufussi, and the other, P/N#10 contained Formica 
nitidiventris slaves. Each colony was placed in a portable artificial 
'Department of Psychology, Hunter College, 695 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021. 
(Current address: American Museum of Natural History, West Laboratory, 79th St. 
& Central Park West, New York, N.Y. 10024). 
2212 Mt. Vernon Ave., Medford, N.Y. 11763 
department of Psychology, Hunter College, 695 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10021. 
Manuscript received by the editor October 18, 1986. 
39 
