Aphaenogaster megommata

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Aphaenogaster megommata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Aphaenogaster
Species: A. megommata
Binomial name
Aphaenogaster megommata
Smith, M.R., 1963

Aphaenogaster-megommata-MCZ001L.jpg

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Specimen Label

Aphaenogaster megommata is a desert species that forages only at night (DeMarco, 2015).

Identification

This pale yellow species has huge eyes and miniscule propodeal spines (DeMarco, 2015).

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Western Arizona through California and Nevada to Oregon; northeastern Lower California and northwestern Sonora.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 40.32278° to 25.98333333°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).
Neotropical Region: Mexico.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Aphaenogaster megommata casent0005724 profile 1.jpgAphaenogaster megommata casent0005724 dorsal 1.jpgAphaenogaster megommata casent0005724 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0005724. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by UCDC, Davis, CA, USA.

Alate Female

Aphaenogaster-alate hef6-3x.jpgAphaenogaster-megommata-alate hal1x.jpgAphaenogaster-alate1-25x.jpgAphaenogaster-megommata-label.jpg
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Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • megommata. Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma) megommatus Smith, M.R. 1963: 244, fig. 1 (w.) U.S.A. (Nevada).
    • Type-material: holotype worker, 42 paratype workers.
    • Type-locality: holotype U.S.A.: Nevada, Washoe County, Pyramid Lake, 1 mi. N Camp Foster, 20.iv.1952 (I. La Rivers); paratypes with same data.
    • Type-depository: USNM.
    • Cole, 1966: 9 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1972b: 238 (l.).
    • Status as species: Cole, 1966: 9; Smith, M.R. 1967: 352; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1361; Snelling, R.R. & George, 1979: 72; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1986g: 36; Bolton, 1995b: 71; Ward, 2005: 65; Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 298 (redescription).
    • Distribution: U.S.A.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
  • Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
  • Johnson, R.A. and P.S. Ward. 2002. Biogeography and endemism of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Baja California, Mexico: a first overview. Journal of Biogeography 29:1009–1026/
  • La Rivers I. 1968. A first listing of the ants of Nevada. Biological Society of Nevada, Occasional Papers 17: 1-12.
  • Nash M. S., Bradford D. F., Franson S. E., Neale A. C., Whitford W. G. and Heggem D. T. 2004. Livestock grazing effects on ant communities in the eastern Mojave Desert, USA. Ecological Indicators 4: 199-213
  • Smith M. R. 1963. A new species of Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma) from the western United States (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 71: 244-246.
  • Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
  • Wheeler G. C., and J. Wheeler. 1986. The ants of Nevada. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, vii + 138 pp.