Pseudomyrmex

Pseudomyrmex
P. gracilis (elongate twig ant) with caterpillar prey
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Pseudomyrmecinae
Tribe: Pseudomyrmecini
Genus: Pseudomyrmex
Lund, 1831
Type species
Formica gracilis[1]
Fabricius, 1804
Diversity[2]
146 species
Synonyms[3]

Apedunculata Enzmann, 1944
Clavanoda Enzmann, 1944
Latinoda Enzmann, 1944
Leptalea Erichson, 1839
Myrmex Guérin-Méneville, 1844
Ornatinoda Enzmann, 1944
Pseudomyrma Guérin-Méneville, 1844
Triangulinoda Enzmann, 1944

Pseudomyrmex is a genus of stinging, wasp-like ants in the subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae. They are large-eyed, slender ants, found mainly in tropical and subtropical regions of the New World.

Distribution and habitat

Pseudomyrmex is predominantly Neotropical in distribution, but a few species are known from the Nearctic region.[4] Most species are generalist twig nesters, for instance, Pseudomyrmex pallidus may nest in the hollow stems of dead grasses, twigs of herbaceous plants, and in dead, woody twigs.[4] However, the genus is best known for several species that are obligate mutualists with certain species of Acacia.[5] Other species have evolved obligate mutualism with other trees; for example Pseudomyrmex triplarinus is obligately dependent on any of a few trees in the genus Triplaris.[6][7]

P. acanthobius
P. apache
P. browni
P. caeciliae
P. cubaensis
P. denticollis
P. ejectus
P. ferrugineus
P. flavicornis
P. osurus
P. simplex
P. termitarius

Species

See also: List of Pseudomyrmex species

References

  1. ^ "Genus: Pseudomyrmex". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  2. ^ Bolton, B. (2014). "Pseudomyrmex". AntCat. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  3. ^ Ward, P. S. (1990). "The ant subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Generic revision and relationship to other formicids". Systematic Entomology. 15 (4): 449–489. Bibcode:1990SysEn..15..449W. doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.1990.tb00077.x. S2CID 86012514.
  4. ^ a b Phillip S. Ward (1985). "The Neartic species of the genus Pseudomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)". Quaestiones Entomologicae. 21: 209–246.
  5. ^ Gómez-Acevedo, Sandra; Rico-Arce, Lourdes; Delgado-Salinas, Alfonso; Magallón, Susana; Eguiarte, Luis E. Neotropical mutualism between Acacia and Pseudomyrmex: Phylogeny and divergence times. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56 (2010) 393–408
  6. ^ Larrea-Alcázar, D. M. and J. A. Simonetti. (2007). Why are there few seedlings beneath the myrmecophyte Triplaris americana?. Archived 2013-10-02 at the Wayback Machine Acta Oecologica 32(1) 112–18.
  7. ^ Ward, Philip S. (1 August 1999). "Systematics, biogeography and host plant associations of the Pseudomyrmex viduus group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Triplaris- and Tachigali-inhabiting ants". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 126 (4): 451–540. doi:10.1006/zjls.1998.0158.