RENOUS, N.B. - Insect researchers found a rare slave-making ant species in the Kennedy Lakes Protected Natural Area in New Brunswick.
Aaron Fairweather, a doctoral candidate who studies insects, says this is the first time the species -- Harpagoxenus canadensis -- has been found in Atlantic Canada.
The ant gains control of the host colony by killing their queen, enslaving the worker ants, stealing their brood and raising them as their own and forcing them to do all the work.
Despite its evil tendencies, the presence of the slave-making ant means there are high densities of host ants and indicates a healthy ecosystem.
The slave-making ant has been spotted in Quebec, southern Maine and Minnesota, Fairweather says.
Fairweather says that more research will be done on the insect.
