Dorymyrmex biconis

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Dorymyrmex biconis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Dorymyrmex
Species: D. biconis
Binomial name
Dorymyrmex biconis
Forel, 1912

Dorymyrmex biconis casent0179483 profile 1.jpg

Dorymyrmex biconis casent0179483 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

In Columbia this species can be quite common in disturbed areas.

Identification

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - Worker Concolorous reddish brown. CI: 84–107. Posterior margin of head straight to slightly convex. Mesosomal profile interrupted by the presence of two tubercles: one stout short metanotal tubercle, posteriorly directed, and another placed in apical corner of the propodeum, dorsally directed. Queen Color similar to worker but darker. Head subquadrate with a straight posterior margin. Compound eyes notably developed, longer than wide, placed in middle of lateral margin of head. Male Mandible thin, falcate, with only three teeth: one long apical tooth, one subapical, and one denticle. Masticatory and basal margin well differentiated, basal margins completely devoid of teeth or denticles.

Three species of Dorymyrmex (Dorymyrmex bituber, Dorymyrmex pulchellus, and Dorymyrmex tuberosus) share a few characters with D. biconis. This is a group of species easy to recognize by the presence of two well-developed mesosomal tubercles: one in the last part of the metanotum and the other one between the dorsal and declivitous faces of propodeum.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

North and central South America, from Venezuela to Peru.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -10.817111° to -14.643889°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia (type locality), Peru, Venezuela.

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

In Colombia, Dorymyrmex biconis is spread throughout, from sea level to more than 2300m. It is more common in lowlands (i.e., Colombian Caribbean region, North of Colombia) and quite common in anthropic environments, with higher abundance in urban places. Nevertheless, workers of D. biconis have been collected in primary dry forests and in mangroves. D. biconis builds nests in soil devoid of vegetation, in very warm areas. Exceptions are arid but extremely cold places such as Boyaca, Colombia. As in other species of Dorymyrmex, nests are superficial, with simple architecture, and no more than 10–15 cm in depth. Excavated nests by RJG in Santa Marta (Magdalena, Colombia) share a similar architecture: only one circular entrance (no more than 5 mm in diameter) surrounded by a mound of sand or other soil particles with a diameter of 9-10 cm. The nest consist of one chamber with queens and males, a second one with larvae and worker pupae, and a third chamber with food and insects remains, such as several Bruchidae (Coleoptera). In one nest, RJG collected some dead Thysanoptera in the food storage camera. One nest of D. biconis can keep between 10 to 15 alate queens, 8 to 10 males and several tens of workers. Sometimes there are no more than 100 to 200 workers in a single nest. No dealate queens have been found in explored nests. Colonies of D. biconis are probably polydomous, and queens may fly outside of its colony to build satellite nests. In some cases, RJG has found two or three nests in an area of 10m2; only one of these nests had queens. (Cuezzo and Guerrero 2011)

Life History Traits

  • Mean colony size: 5,000 (Beckers et al., 1989)
  • Foraging behaviour: mass recruiter (Beckers et al., 1989)

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Dorymyrmex biconis casent0192696 head 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192696 profile 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192696 dorsal 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192696 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0192696. Photographer Erin Prado, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Dorymyrmex biconis casent0192694 head 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192694 profile 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192694 profile 2.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192694 dorsal 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192694 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0192694. Photographer Erin Prado, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Dorymyrmex biconis casent0192695 head 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192695 profile 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192695 profile 2.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192695 profile 3.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192695 dorsal 1.jpgDorymyrmex biconis casent0192695 label 1.jpg
Male (alate). Specimen code casent0192695. Photographer Erin Prado, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • biconis. Dorymyrmex biconis Forel, 1912h: 37 (w.) COLOMBIA. Cuezzo & Guerrero, 2011: 8 (q.m.). Combination in Conomyrma (Biconomyrma): Kusnezov, 1952g: 430; in Dorymyrmex: Shattuck, 1992c: 85.

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

Description

Worker

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - (n = 62): HL: 0.56–1.16; HW: 0.62–1.20; EL: 0.18–0.34; EW: 0.16–0.32; SL: 0.78–1.10; WL: 1.00–1.12; CI: 84–107; SI: 93–127; REL: 24–33; OI: 55–88; TLI: 128–191.

Concolorous reddish brown, whitish pubescence covering all body tagma. Some specimens have some segments of gaster darker than rest of the body. Worker length 2.8–3.0 mm. Head: subquadrate, longer than wide, with lateral sides straight to slightly convex, posterior margin of the head straight to slightly convex. Scape surpassing the posterior margin of head by no more than 1/3 of its length. Compound eyes placed far from posterior clypeal margin but in the first half of the head. Psammophore with short hairs disposed in a triangle; the hairs in the top line are near to the foramen magnum and do not reach the oral cavity. Mesosoma: mesonotum with a stout cone, rounded apically, and shorter than propodeal tubercle. Mesonotal tubercle directed posteriorly. Metanotal suture well developed and located inside a very pronounced concavity posterior to mesonotal tubercle. Dorsal face of propodeum anterior to tubercle sinuate. Metasoma: petiolar scale directed dorsally.

Queen

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - (n = 7): HL: 1.10–1.16; HW: 1.18–1.20; EL: 0.40–0.46; EW: 0.28–0.32; SL: 1.06–1.12; WL: 2.04–2.32; CI: 102–107; SI: 93–102; REL: 36–40; OI: 61–76; TLI: 179–200.

Body reddish brown, darker than worker. Pubescence dense, with long, decumbent hairs covering all body tagma. Head: subquadrate. Head capsule with lateral margins parallel to slightly convex, especially in their posterior half. Posterior margin of head straight, with occipital corners rounded. Mandible with a long and sharp apical tooth, three additional teeth and four denticles along the masticatory margin; basal margin completely denticulate without any angle between both margins. Compound eyes notably large, longer than wide, placed in the middle of lateral sides. Scape surpassing the posterior margin of head by twice its maximum diameter. Mesosoma: parapsidal furrow slightly developed, visible in

Cuezzo and Guerrero 2011. Figure 4.

dorsal view as a tenuous line reaching posterior half of pronotum, diverging forwards, axilla not divided. Anepisternum and katepisternum incompletely divided by a short pleural suture. Pleural suture with long and abundant hairs (better observed in specimens preserved in EtOH). Wings: forewing with one close radial cell, only one cubital cell, no discoidal cell; pterostigma well developed, longer than wide. Hindwing with three closed cells, hamuli with 12 hooks. Metasoma: petiolar scale tall, directed dorsally, and apically obtuse. Petiolar ventral face straight with posterior end slightly convex. Gastral tergites dark brown, especially in posterior 2/3; sternite 1 and 2 lighter than the rest of the body.

Male

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - (n = 5): HL: 0.56–0.60; HW: 0.58–0.62; EL: 0.30–0.34; EW: 0.24–0.28; SL: 0.22–0.24; WL: 1.24–1.36; CI: 100–107; SI: 38–41; REL: 50–59; OI: 75–88; TLI: 217–234.

Body dark brown to black, mandibles yellowish brown except masticatory margin which is reddish brown; legs, except femora, lighter than rest of the body. Head and mesosoma strongly pointed. Pilosity with dense, decumbent, thin, and whitish hairs covering all tagma. Katepisternum and metapleural area with only a few hairs. Anterior face of petiolar scale with 2-3 long hairs. Head: square. Posterior margin of head weakly concave medially; occipital corners rounded; dorsal face of head with a weak, middle furrow. Mandible thin and falcate, with parallel sides;

Cuezzo and Guerrero 2011. Figure 5.

one long apical tooth, three times longer than subapical one, one denticle, and a diastema before the angle with the basal margin. Masticatory and basal margin well differentiated; basal margins completely devoid of teeth or denticles. Posterior part of clypeus wide and reaching the toruli; anterior clypeal margin convex, with a subclypeal border thin, anteromedial part of clypeus straight. Antenna with exposed condyle; long scape (< to EL) reaching posterior margin of compound eye; pedicel as long as each flagellomere. Compound eye large, maximum length more than 2/3 of cephalic length. Median ocellus hyaline, well developed; lateral ocelli close to posterior margin of head. Mesosoma: pronotum long, comprises more than a half of mesosoma, projecting forward as an elbow with a strong depression medially; parapsidal furrows running parallel, reaching the middle part of pronotum, placed inside the depression. Mesonotum twice longer than wide. Anepisternum and katepisternum completely divided by a mesopleural sulcus. Dorsal face of propodeum not well differentiated form posterior face, with a strong declivitous face; propodeal spiracles strongly protruded. Wings: forewing with close radial cell, no close cubital nor discoidal cell. Hindwing without closed cells, hamuli with 12 hooks. Metasoma: petiolar scale low and apically rounded, without ventral petiolar process. Pygostyle stout and short, well developed; paramere stout, covered with long dark setae; digitus curved ventrally, longer than volsella; aedeagus serrate ventrally.

Type Material

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - Syntypes. 2w, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, San Antonio, Guajira Prov., COLOMBIA (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève).

Etymology

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - The name of this species refers to the main diagnostic character of D. biconis: the presence of a pair of tubercles interrupting the mesosomal profile.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Cuezzo F. and Guerrero, R. J. 2011. The ant genus Dorymyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) in Colombia. Psyche 2012, Article ID 516058 (doi:10.1155/2012/516058): 24 pp
  • Gomes E. C. F., G. T. Ribeiro, T. M. S. Souza, and L. Sousa-Souto. 2014. Ant assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in three different stages of forest regeneration in a fragment of Atlantic Forest in Sergipe, Brazil. Sociobiology 61(3): 250-257.
  • Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.