Dorymyrmex antillanus

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Dorymyrmex antillanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Dorymyrmex
Species: D. antillanus
Binomial name
Dorymyrmex antillanus
Snelling, R.R., 2005

MCZ-ENT00511968 Dorymyrmex antillana hal.jpg

MCZ-ENT00511968 Dorymyrmex antillana had.jpg

Specimen Label

This ant is common in beach scrub habitat in Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic. Nests there are made in the ground in open sandy areas, surrounded by a small crater of excavated material. The workers, like many of their congeners, move swiftly and are active at high temperatures.

Identification

Similar to Dorymyrmex insanus but with a posteriorly declivitous mesonotum, i.e., there is not a distinctive step down between the mesonotum and pronotum.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Caribbean, known from both the Greater and Lesser Antilles.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 20.35° to 10.044°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Puerto Rico.

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


San Cristóbal, República Dominicana. Video by Judá Isaí Martínez Uribe.

  • Dorymyrmex antillanus nest entrances, Cabo Rojo, Dominican Republic.

Castes

Males have not been collected.

Queen

Dorymyrmex antillanus Queen.jpg
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Nomenclature

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

  • antillanus. Dorymyrmex antillana Snelling, R.R. 2005: 285 (w.) ANTILLES.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

This species was orginally described Auguste Forel (1911) as Dorymyrmex pyramicus subsp. brunneus var. antillana and thus is an unavailable quadrinomial. The type locality is St. Vincent in the lesser Antilles. This was treated as a synonym of Dorymyrmex insanus by Snelling (1973), an erroneus assignment, and later removed from that synonymy by Snelling (1995). Workers differ from those of Dorymyrmex insanus by the posteriorly declivitous mesonotum (the middle segment of the thorax slopes downward). The gyne differs from that of Dorymyrmex insanus (and all known North American species) by the presence of numerous short, stiff erect hairs on the head and mesonotum. Forel (1911) originally described this as a variety of the Argentinean Dorymyrmex brunneus, which it closely resembles. Workers, especially, are very similar but the mesosomal profile is subtly different. Again, the gyne differs in its extreme hairiness; those of Dorymyrmex brunneus do possess some erect hairs on the head and mesosomal dorsum, but not to the extent seen in Dorymyrmex antillana.


References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Snelling R. 1992. Guana and Mona islands. Sphecos 23: 13-14.
  • Snelling R. R. 2005. Wasps, ants, and bees: aculeate Hymeoptera. Pp. 283-296 in: Lazell, J. 2005. Island. Fact and theory in nature. Berkeley: University of California Press, xx + 382 pp.
  • Wetterer J. K., and C. D. Lombard. 2010. Fire Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an Important Sea Turtle Nesting Beach on St. Croix, USVI. Florida Entomologist 93(3): 449-450.