Polyergus, also called Amazon ants, is a small genus of 14 described species of "slave-raiding" ants. Its workers are incapable of caring for brood, in part due to their dagger-like, piercing mandibles, but more importantly, because in the evolution of their parasitism on certain species of the host genus "Formica", they have lost the "behavioral wiring" to carry out even rudimentary brood care, or even to feed themselves.