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Six new species of Dracula Ants discovered (and that’s six too many if you ask Geek Slop)

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Scientists from California say they have discovered six new species of Dracula Ants (which the big scientists call Adetomyrma), those strange blind ants with big fangs that get their name from their bizarre habit of sucking the insect blood out of the colony’s own baby ants (called larvae).  Scientists say that although it really creeps them out, sucking the insect juice out of the babies doesn’t seem to hurt the baby ants (although they noted the babies fight like crazy to escape the bigger Dracula Ants which indicates it must not be a pleasant experience for them).

Here’s a picture of the ants sucking insect goo out of larvae.

Adetomyrma or Dracula Ant sucking the insect blood out of larvae

Dracula Ant colonies can contain as many as 10,000 blood suckers.  The worker ants in the colony use venom to stun their prey which they tote back to the colony for the larvae to feed on.  As yes, like the real Dracula, these ants can fly too.

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