Pseudomyrmex championi

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Pseudomyrmex championi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Pseudomyrmecinae
Genus: Pseudomyrmex
Species group: elongatulus
Species: P. championi
Binomial name
Pseudomyrmex championi
(Forel, 1899)

Pseudomyrmex championi casent0217575 p 1 high.jpg

Pseudomyrmex championi casent0217575 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

Pseudomyrmex championi occurs in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre del Sur, and the intervening Transmexican Volcanic Belt (Fig. 21). Collection labels with habitat and/or elevation information document the occurrence of this species in oak woodland, oak-pine forest, old field/pasture, mixed tropical/temperate mesic forest, mid-montane dry forest, and yucca desert, at elevations ranging from 1,200 m to 2,344 m (mean 1,828 m; n = 28). Four nests of P. championi encountered by one of us (P.S.Ward) were all from dead twigs of woody shrubs (one Asteraceae, one Verbenaceae, and two unidentified plants). (Ward & Branstetter, 2022)

Identification

Small to medium-sized species (HW 0.82–1.05) with moderately elongate head (CI 0.80–0.87) (Fig. 6) and relatively short eyes (see REL and REL2 values); frontal carinae separated by about basal scape width or less; metanotal groove present but weakly impressed; in profile, dorsal face of propodeum generally flat and more or less differentiated from declivitous face, rounding into the latter, and the two faces subequal in length; petiole moderately slender (PLI 0.49–0.57, PL/HL 0.52–0.56); in profile petiole with slight or no anterior peduncle, the anterodorsal face flat to convex, ascending gradually to summit in posterior half of node, then rounding into more steeply descending posterior face; profemur slender; hind leg relatively short (LHT/HL 0.69–0.75). Head opaque to subopaque, densely punctulate-coriarious, the punctulae on vertex usually separated by less than their diameters (but separated by more than their diameters in some populations, and the vertex correspondingly shinier). Standing pilosity sparse, absent from propodeum and mesonotum (MSC 4–8). Gaster, metacoxa, metafemur and metatibia dark brown, contrasting with light orangebrown mesosoma; head, first and second pairs of legs, petiole, and postpetiole varying from dark brown (usually) to much lighter and concolorous with mesosoma. (Ward & Branstetter, 2022)

The worker of this species is characterized by having a light-colored (orange-brown) mesosoma and contrasting dark gaster and hind leg. The head, other legs, petiole, and postpetiole also tend to be strongly infuscated, but in some samples (from Colima, Jalisco, and Chihuahua) they are lighter colored and even concolorous with the mesosoma. Workers of the closely related Pseudomyrmex apache are uniformly orange-brown in color; see further discussion under that species. Pseudomyrmex championi has been confused with dark brown workers of a more distantly related species, Pseudomyrmex cognatus, which occurs from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. The supposed descriptions of the larva (Wheeler and Bailey 1920, Wheeler and Wheeler 1956) and queen (Kempf 1961) of P. championi actually refer to P. cognatus. Workers of the two taxa can be distinguished as follows: P. championi is conspicuously bicolored, the dark gaster contrasting with the light orange-brown mesosoma, whereas P. cognatus is more uniformly dark brownish-black, with the mesosoma at most moderately lighter (and often dark on top); the metanotal groove is better developed (but still slight) in P. championi compared to P. cognatus; and the eye is generally shorter in P. championi than P. cognatus (REL 0.38–0.44 vs 0.43–0.48). The geographical distributions of P. championi and P. cognatus do not overlap (Figs. 21 and 22) but because they belong to different species complexes in the P. elongatulus group (Fig. 1), they cannot be treated as allopatric variants of the same species. Their similarities must reflect convergence or shared ancestral features. (Ward & Branstetter, 2022)

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 28° to 12.99908333°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate
  • Source: AntMaps; Ward & Branstetter, 2022

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Mexico (type locality).

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

Images from AntWeb

Pseudomyrmex championi casent0246349 d 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0246349 h 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0246349 p 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0246349 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0246349. Photographer Leah Benuska, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by USNM, Washington, DC, USA.
Pseudomyrmex championi casent0902873 p 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0902873 d 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0902873 h 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0902873 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Pseudomyrmex championiWorker. Specimen code casent0902873. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.
Pseudomyrmex championi casent0907518 h 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0907518 d 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0907518 p 1 high.jpgPseudomyrmex championi casent0907518 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Pseudomyrmex championiWorker. Specimen code casent0907518. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Phylogeny

Relationships among Pseudomyrmex elongatulus group species based on Ward & Branstetter (2022).

Pseudomyrmex

Pseudomyrmex salvini

some Pseudomyrmex championi

some Pseudomyrmex championi

Pseudomyrmex apache

Pseudomyrmex fasciatus

some Pseudomyrmex cognatus

some Pseudomyrmex cognatus

Pseudomyrmex comitator

some Pseudomyrmex arcanus

some Pseudomyrmex arcanus

Pseudomyrmex capillatus

Pseudomyrmex veracruzensis

Pseudomyrmex nimbus

Pseudomyrmex exoratus

Pseudomyrmex ereptor

Pseudomyrmex elongatulus

Nomenclature

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

  • championi. Pseudomyrma championi Forel, 1899c: 96 (w.) MEXICO. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1956: 382 (l.); Kempf, 1961a: 392 (q.). Combination in Pseudomyrmex: Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1956: 382. Senior synonym of leonhardi: Kempf, 1961a: 391.
  • leonhardi. Pseudomyrma leonhardi Stitz, 1937: 132, figs. (w.) MEXICO. Junior synonym of championi: Kempf, 1961a: 391.

Type Material

  • Pseudomyrma championi. Syntype worker, Amula, 6000 ft., Guerrero, Mexico (H. H. Smith) (BMNH) [examined by Ward & Branstetter, 2022].
  • Pseudomyrma leonhardi. Two syntype workers, Guerrero, Mexico (L. Schultze) (ZMHB) [examined by Ward & Branstetter, 2022].

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Castano-Meneses, G., M. Vasquez-Bolanos, J. L. Navarrete-Heredia, G. A. Quiroz-Rocha, and I. Alcala-Martinez. 2015. Avances de Formicidae de Mexico. Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
  • Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
  • Field Museum Collection, Chicago, Illinois (C. Moreau)
  • Kempf W. W. 1961. Estudos sôbre Pseudomyrmex. III. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Studia Entomologica 4: 369-408.
  • Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
  • Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
  • Lopez, A. S., M. Vasquez-Bolanos, and G. A. Q. Rocha. 2015. Hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del Cerro de la Culebra, Arandas, Jalisco, Mexico. Dugesiana 19: 151-155.
  • Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
  • Wheeler, William Morton. 1916. Ants Collected in Trinidad by Professor Roland Thaxter, Mr. F. W. Urich, and Others. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparitive Zoology at Harvard University. 40(8):322-330