Eciton mexicanum

Eciton mexicanum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dorylinae
Genus:	Eciton
Species:	E. mexicanum
Binomial name
Eciton mexicanum Roger, 1863 Specimen labels
Subspecies
Eciton mexicanum argentinum Borgmeier, 1955 Eciton mexicanum goianum Borgmeier, 1955 Eciton mexicanum latidens Santschi, 1911 Eciton mexicanum moralum Santschi, 1923 Eciton mexicanum panamense Borgmeier, 1955
Synonyms
Eciton rogeri Dalla Torre, 1892

Photo Gallery

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  One of the smallest Eciton species is Eciton mexicanum. A soldier patrolling along an emigration column at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Photo by Daniel Kronauer.

Identification

Jack Longino:

Minor worker: head and mesosoma maroon, metasoma somewhat lighter yellow brown; occipital tooth present; petiolar teeth fused, forming a bilobed scoop-like structure, with a single median carina extending down the posterior face of propodeum; petiole long and low, subrectangular, occasionally with a low anterodorsal rim; fourth abdominal tergite with short, sparse appressed pubescence beneath erect setae.

Major worker: face densely micropunctate, matte; long sickle-shaped mandibles simple, without tooth on inner margin; other characters as in minor.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 23.68° to -23.4°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (type locality), Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Biology

Baudier et al. (2015) studied thermal tolerances of a variety of army ant workers. Eciton mexicanum was one of a number of army ant species sampled with a life history that includes both below and above ground activities.

Jack Longio: This species can be found in dry forest or wet forest, from sea level to montane areas.

Raiding is always in columns, never in a carpet like Eciton burchellii. Many of the raiding columns I have observed have been at night, showing a tendency to be nocturnal, but I also encounter columns during the day. The few times I have encountered prey they have been large ponerines in the genera Ectatomma and Pachycondyla and relatives.

O'Donnell et al. (2020) report this species foraging both day and night.

Association with Other Organisms

 Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora bruchi (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora collegiana (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora pilosula (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitophora sp. (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Ecitoptera concomitans (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Thalloptera schwarzmaieri (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a prey for the phorid fly Dohrniphora ecitophila (a predator) (Quevillon, 2018).

Castes

Worker

.	Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Soldier

.

Male

.

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0006117. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Worker. Specimen code casent0006118. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Worker. Specimen code casent0178720. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MIZA, Maracay, Venezuela.

Worker. Specimen code casent0178721. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MIZA, Maracay, Venezuela.

Phylogeny

Relationships among species of Eciton based on Winston et al. (2016). The species Eciton jansoni, Eciton quadriglume, Eciton setigaster and Eciton uncinatum were not included in this study.

Eciton	Eciton dulcium Eciton vagans Eciton quadriglume Eciton rapax Eciton mexicanum Eciton lucanoides Eciton burchellii Eciton drepanophorum Eciton hamatum

Nomenclature

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

• mexicanum. Eciton mexicana Roger, 1863a: 205 (w.) MEXICO (no state data).
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-locality: Mexico: (no further data).
  • [Note: locality provided by Borgmeier, 1955: 257, Mexico: Chiapas, Escuintla, 3-4.iv.1945 (Schneirla), is not based on type-material and is not the type-locality.]
  • Type-depository: MNHU.
  • Emery, 1894c: 178 (s.); Borgmeier, 1933a: 92 (q., as rogeri); Borgmeier, 1955: 252 (m.).
  • Status as species: Roger, 1863b: 36; Mayr, 1863: 459; Mayr, 1865: 77 (in key); Norton, 1868a: 62; Norton, 1868b: 45; Norton, 1868c: 7; Mayr, 1886b: 117 (in key); Emery, 1890b: 38; Dalla Torre, 1893: 4; Emery, 1894c: 178; Emery, 1894k: 45; Emery, 1896g: 33; Forel, 1899c: 27; Smith, M.R. 1931a: 16; Borgmeier, 1955: 250 (redescription); Kempf, 1961b: 486; Kempf, 1970b: 323; Kempf, 1972a: 102; Watkins, 1976: 9 (in key); Watkins, 1982: 209 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 185; Palacio, 1999: 151 (in key); Wild, 2007b: 25; Branstetter & Sáenz, 2012: 254; Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 109; Palacio, 2019: 601.
  • Senior synonym of rogeri: Borgmeier, 1955: 250; Kempf, 1972a: 103; Bolton, 1995b: 185.
  • Distribution: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru.
  • Current subspecies: nominal plus argentinum, goianum, latidens, moralum, panamense.
• rogeri. Eciton rogeri Dalla Torre, 1892: 89.
  • Unnecessary replacement name for mexicanum Roger, 1863b: 205.
  • Status as species: Dalla Torre, 1893: 6; Emery, 1894c: 178; Emery, 1896h: 625; Forel, 1899c: 25; Emery, 1900a: 185; Wheeler, W.M. 1907a: 271; Emery, 1910b: 21; Forel, 1911c: 288; Mann, 1916: 420; Borgmeier, 1923: 40; Bruch, 1934b: 125; Borgmeier, 1939: 406.
  • Junior synonym of mexicanum: Borgmeier, 1955: 250; Kempf, 1972a: 103; Bolton, 1995b: 186.

Taxonomic Notes

Jack Longino:

Borgmeier (1955) described a subspecies Eciton mexicanum panamense from central Panama, based on workers and queen. He differentiated panamense from mexicanum s. str. as follows (my translation): "The soldier differs from mexicanum s. str. by the shorter scapes (1.84mm), shorter funiculus, shorter mandible (3mm) and smaller postpetiole (0.56mm broad posteriorly), and by a well developed anteroventral petiolar tooth (also present on the available minor workers, while it is missing or very short on the workers of mexicanum s. str.)." His key to the queens differentiated the forms as follows:

Petiolar horns with approximately parallel sides, dorsal longitudinal sulcus broad and deep: mexicanum s. str.

Petiolar horns tapered posteriorly, dorsal longitudinal sulcus narrow and shallow: panamense.

The degree of development of the anteroventral petiolar tooth is highly variable among the Costa Rica material I have examined, from nearly absent to well developed. I consider panamense a junior synonym of mexicanum until evidence to the contrary.

References

• Borgmeier, T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Stud. Entomol. 3: 1-720.
• Alatorre-Bracamontes, C.E., Vásquez-Bolaños, M. 2010. Lista comentada de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del norte de México. Dugesiana 17(1): 9-36.
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• Baudier, K. M., A. E. Mudd, S. C. Erickson, and S. O'Donnell. 2015. Microhabitat and body size effects on heat tolerance: implications for responses to climate change (army ants: Formicidae, Ecitoninae). Journal of Animal Ecology. 84:1322-1330. doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12388
• Borgmeier, T. 1933a. A rainha de Eciton rogeri Dalla Torre (Hym. Formicidae). Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 3: 92-96 (page 92, queen described)
• Borowiec, M.L. 2019. Convergent evolution of the army ant syndrome and congruence in big-data phylogenetics. Systematic Biology 68, 642–656 (doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy088).
• Brückner, A., Hoenle, P.O., von Beeren, C. 2018. Comparative chemical analysis of army ant mandibular gland volatiles (Formicidae: Dorylinae). PeerJ 6, e5319 (doi:10.7717/peerj.5319).
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• Franco, W., Ladino, N., Delabie, J.H.C., Dejean, A., Orivel, J., Fichaux, M., Groc, S., Leponce, M., Feitosa, R.M. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674, 509–543 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4674.5.2).
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• O’Donnell, S., McGlynn, T.P. 2017. Emigrating on the fly: a novel method of army ant colony movement observed in Eciton mexicanum. Journal of Insect Behavior 30: 471-474 (DOI 10.1007/s10905-017-9635-z).
• O'Donnell, S., Lattke, J., Powell, S., Kaspari, M. 2020. Diurnal and nocturnal foraging specialisation in Neotropical army ants. Ecological Entomology 46, 352–359 (doi:10.1111/een.12969).
• Roger, J. 1863a. Die neu aufgeführten Gattungen und Arten meines Formiciden-Verzeichnisses nebst Ergänzung einiger früher gegebenen Beschreibungen. Berl. Entomol. Z. 7: 131-214 (page 205, worker described)
• Winston, M.E., Kronauer, D.J.C. & Moreau, C.S. 2016. Early and dynamic colonization of Central America drives speciation in Neotropical army ants. Molecular Ecology (doi: 10.1111/mec.13846).

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