Eciton rapax

Eciton rapax
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dorylinae
Genus:	Eciton
Species:	E. rapax
Binomial name
Eciton rapax Smith, F., 1855 Specimen Labels

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 9.266667° to -16.256667°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Bolivia, Brazil (type locality), Ecuador, 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

Brown & Fenner (1998) report this species conducting raids on the nests of an unknown species of Pheidole at Pakitza, Peru.

Life History Traits

• Mean colony size: 275,000 (Sudd & Franks, 1987; Beckers et al., 1989)
• Foraging behaviour: group hunter (Sudd & Franks, 1987; Beckers et al., 1989)

Castes

Worker

File:E.raFile:E.raFile:E.ra
.	Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Queen

File:E.raFile:E.raFile:E.raFile:E.ra
.

Male

File:E.raFile:E.raFile:E.ra
.

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0249462. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by PSWC, Philip S. Ward Collection.

Lectotype of Eciton rapax. Worker. Specimen code casent0902635. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

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.

• rapax. Eciton rapax Smith, F. 1855c: 163, pl. 13, figs. 3, 4 (s.w.) BRAZIL (Pará).
  • Type-material: holotype [recte: lectotype (by designation of Borgmeier, 1955: 211)] worker (major).
  • Type-locality: Brazil: Pará, Belém (H.W. Bates) (by restriction of Borgmeier, 1955: 211).
  • [Note: Smith originally also included minor workers in his type-series, from Brazil: Santarem (Bates); these were excluded from the type-series by Borgmeier, 1955: 211, who identified them as E. burchellii.]
  • Type-depository: BMNH.
  • [Note: in the figure legends of Smith, F. 1855c: 169, pl. 13, the name rapax is misspelled as raptor; an incorrect subsequent spelling that does not enter into homonymy.]
  • Mayr, 1886b: 118 (w.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1974c: 169 (l.); Rettenmeyer, 1974: 297 (q.m.).
  • Combination in E. (Eciton): Emery, 1910b: 21;
  • combination in E. (Holopone): Santschi, 1925b: 11;
  • combination in Eciton: Borgmeier, 1955: 211.
  • Status as species: Smith, F. 1858b: 151; Mayr, 1863: 409; Roger, 1863b: 36; Mayr, 1865: 77 (in key); Mayr, 1886b: 118 (in key); Dalla Torre, 1893: 5; Emery, 1894c: 179; Forel, 1895b: 120; Forel, 1901h: 49; Emery, 1910b: 21; Mann, 1916: 420; Borgmeier, 1923: 39; Wheeler, W.M. 1925a: 1; Borgmeier, 1953: 16; Borgmeier, 1955: 211 (redescription); Kempf, 1970b: 323; Kempf, 1972a: 103; Watkins, 1976: 9 (in key); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1984: 270; Brandão, 1991: 341; Bolton, 1995b: 186; Palacio, 1999: 151 (in key); Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 110; Palacio, 2019: 601.
  • Distribution: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru.

References

• Albuquerque, E., Prado, L., Andrade-Silva, J., Siqueira, E., Sampaio, K., Alves, D., Brandão, C., Andrade, P., Feitosa, R., Koch, E., Delabie, J., Fernandes, I., Baccaro, F., Souza, J., Almeida, R., Silva, R. 2021. Ants of the State of Pará, Brazil: a historical and comprehensive dataset of a key biodiversity hotspot in the Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 5001, 1–83 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5001.1.1).
• Beckers R., Goss, S., Deneubourg, J.L., Pasteels, J.M. 1989. Colony size, communication and ant foraging Strategy. Psyche 96: 239-256 (doi:10.1155/1989/94279).
• Borgmeier, T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Stud. Entomol. 3: 1-720 (page 211, see also)
• 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).
• Brown, B.V., Fenner, D.H. 1998. Parasitic phorid flies (Diptera: Phoridae) associated with army ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ecitoninae, Dorylinae) and their conservation biology. Biotropica 30: 482-487.
• 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).
• Mayr, G. 1886b. Ueber Eciton-Labidus. (Schluss). Wien. Entomol. Ztg. 5: 115-122 (page 118, worker described)
• Rettenmeyer, C. W. 1974. Description of the queen and male with some biological notes on the army ant, Eciton rapax. Pp. 291-302 in: Beard, R. L. (ed.) Connecticut Entomological Society 25th Anniversary Memoirs. New Haven: Connecticut Entomological Soc (page 297, queen, male described)
• Smith, F. 1855c. Descriptions of some species of Brazilian ants belonging to the genera Pseudomyrma, Eciton and Myrmica (with observations on their economy by Mr. H. W. Bates). Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. (2) 3: 156-169 (page 163, soldier described)
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1974c. Ant larvae of the subfamily Dorylinae: second supplement (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 47: 166-172 (page 169, larva described)
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1984a. The larvae of the army ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a revision. J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 57: 263-275 (page 270, see also)
• 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).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Basset Y., L. Cizek, P. Cuenoud, R. K. Didham, F. Guilhaumon, O. Missa, V. Novotny, F. Odegaards, T. Roslin, J. Schmidl et al. 2012. Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest. Science 338(6113): 1481-1484.
• Bezdeckova K., P. Bedecka, and I. Machar. 2015. A checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Peru. Zootaxa 4020 (1): 101–133.
• Borgmeier T. 1923. Catalogo systematico e synonymico das formigas do Brasil. 1 parte. Subfam. Dorylinae, Cerapachyinae, Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae. Archivos do Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) 24: 33-103.
• Borgmeier T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Studia Entomologica 3: 1-720.
• Brandao, C.R.F. 1991. Adendos ao catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao neotropical (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Rev. Bras. Entomol. 35: 319-412.
• Brown W. L., Jr. 1976. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. Part VI. Ponerinae, tribe Ponerini, subtribe Odontomachiti. Section A. Introduction, subtribal characters. Genus Odontomachus. Stud. Entomol. 19: 67-171.
• Emery C. 1894. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. VI-XVI. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 26: 137-241.
• Fernandez F. C., and L. Schneider S. 1989. Reconocimiento de hormigas en la reserva La Macarena. Revista Colombiana de Entomologia 15(1): 38-44.
• Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
• Forel A. 1901. Formiciden des Naturhistorischen Museums zu Hamburg. Neue Calyptomyrmex-, Dacryon-, Podomyrma- und Echinopla-Arten. Mitt. Naturhist. Mus. Hambg. 18: 43-82.
• Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
• Gomez V. E. S., and G. Z. González. 2007. Catalogo de Las Hormigas Presentes en El Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad del Cauca. Popayán : 1-58.
• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
• 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.
• Ramirez, S and S.A. Cameron. 2003. Army Ant Attacks by Eciton hamatum and E. rapax (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on Nests of the Amazonian Bumble Bee, Bombus transversalis (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 76 (3) :533-535
• Robson Simon Ant Collection, 05-Sept-2014
• Watkins J. F., II 1976. The identification and distribution of New World army ants (Dorylinae: Formicidae). Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 102 pp