ABSTRACT
When one first looks into the face of a worker Stigmatomma (pronounced stig’ ma tō” ma), one can only be grateful that these ants are not the size of terriers. The long jaws, set with double rows of sharp, triangular teeth, are fearsome weapons. The prey of at least some species is relatively large and well-defended centipedes (Brown 1960a; Gotwald and Levieux 1972). Alex Wild provides a lively and profusely illustrated journal of a captive colony of Stigmatomma oregonensis, a species that appears closely related to the Floridian Stigmatomma pallipes (Notes from Underground, online, May 23, 2005). Workers in this colony killed centipedes by stinging and then carried the prey back to the nest, where they were repeatedly bitten, but not dismembered. Workers consumed hemolymph oozing from the centipedes, and eventually piled larvae on the prebitten centipedes. Queens and, less frequently, workers fed on larval hemolymph, puncturing the larvae in specific areas of the body. The larvae developed scars from this treatment, but otherwise seemed unharmed. This nonlethal cannibalism increased when the colony ran out of centipedes. Similar behavior occurs in the Japanese species Strumigenys silvestrii (Masuko 1986). The hemolymph-drinking behavior of Stigmatomma has inspired some myrmecologists to use the English name “vampire ants.” The appropriateness of this name, however, may be questioned in light of the recent spate of interest in the natural history of vampires. Vampirism specialists, whose
work may be scanned in the remarkable array of books currently appearing in the “Paranormal Romance” section of a large-chain bookstore, seem to disagree on whether vampire reproduction can even produce babies, and I know of no suggestion in the literature that vampires support themselves by feeding on the blood of their offspring.
