Nylanderia parvula

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Nylanderia parvula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Lasiini
Genus: Nylanderia
Species: N. parvula
Binomial name
Nylanderia parvula
(Mayr, 1870)

Paratrechina parvula casent0003319 profile 1.jpg

Paratrechina parvula casent0003319 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Nests often occur in open areas, especially at forest edges and under stones (Trager, 1984). In the northeastern United States, they are particularly common in sandy substrates where small craters mark their nests, with much of their nest near the surface. Chambers have been found up to 30 cm below the surface (Trager, 1984). Reproductives are reared in mid summer in the north and late summer in the south, which then overwinter and fly the following spring (Trager, 1984) (Kallal & LaPolla, 2012).

Identification

Kallal & LaPolla (2012) - Small (TL: 1.6–2.2); uniformly dark brown to black in color; scape macrosetae absent.

Compare with: Nylanderia trageri and Nylanderia wojciki.

Nylanderia parvula is one of only two species in the Nearctic that lacks scape macrosetae in the worker caste. The other is N. trageri, which is yellow. While some western populations of N. parvula are lighter than eastern populations they are always brown to darker in coloration, never being yellow as is observed in N. trageri.

Identification Keys including this Taxon

Distribution

Eastern United States.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 45.826° to 19.31777°.

     
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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

Nylanderia parvula can be found in nearly every state in the eastern half the United States. They are among the most common ants in the sandy, moist pine barrens of the Northeast, the mixed deciduous forests of the Great Smoky Mountains, and sandy pine-oak dune woodlands of the Southeast. This species is found the furthest north of any Nylanderia species in the Nearctic, occurring into Ontario, Canada. This species serves as the host for workerless inquiline Nylanderia deceptrix in Massachusetts, the lone parasitic ant known from and preying upon Nylanderia.

Nylanderia parvula is known to remove (Atchison & Lucky, 2022) and disperse (Beattie & Culver, 1981) seeds.

Association with Other Organisms

Explore-icon.png 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 mutualist for the aphid Aphis coreopsidis (a trophobiont) (Favret et al., 2010; Saddiqui et al., 2019).

Flight Period

X X
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Source: antkeeping.info.

Life History Traits

  • Queen number: monogynous (Frumhoff & Ward, 1992)

Castes

Nylanderia-parvula- 8278.jpg
.

Images from AntWeb

Paratrechina parvula casent0104227 head 1.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104227 profile 1.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104227 dorsal 1.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104227 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0104227. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.
Paratrechina parvula casent0104230 head 1.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104230 head 2.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104230 profile 1.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104230 dorsal 1.jpgParatrechina parvula casent0104230 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0104230. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • parvula. Prenolepis parvula Mayr, 1870b: 948 (w.q.m.) U.S.A. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1968: 211 (l.). Combination in Pr. (Nylanderia): Forel, 1922: 98; in Paratrechina (Nylanderia): Emery, 1925b: 222; in Nylanderia: LaPolla, Brady & Shattuck, 2010a: 127. Subspecies of vividula: Forel, 1885a: 348; Mayr, 1886d: 431. Revived status as species: Emery, 1893i: 636. See also: Trager, 1984b: 104; Kallal & LaPolla, 2012: 27.

Type Material

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

Description

Worker

Kallal & LaPolla (2012) - Measurements (n=15) TL: 1.63–2.31; HW: 0.43–0.56; HL: 0.515–0.64; EL: 0.14–0.17; SL: 0.47–0.67; PW: 0.22–0.41; WL: 0.57–0.76; GL: 0.50–0.92; PH: 0.16–0.30; PFL: 0.45–0.52; PFW: 0.12–0.19. SMC: 0; PMC: 2–5; MMC: 2–3. Indices: CI: 78–90; REL: 24–30; SI: 84–118; FI: 80–95.

Dark brown in color; antennae and mandibles distinctly lighter, often grayish yellow; leg joints yellowish, especially tarsi; mesocoxae and metacoxae infrequently less dark than mesosoma; cuticle smooth and shiny; cephalic pubescence moderate; mesosoma and gastral pubescence virtually absent. Head ovate; posterior margin slightly emarginated medially; scapes surpass posterior margin by first 2–3 funicular segments; ocelli not apparent. Pronotal anterior face at least 45°; pronotum weakly inflected with approximately equally long pronotal anterior and pronotal dorsal faces; anterior margin mesonotum continuous with, or slightly higher than, pronotal margin; propodeum gently rounded with declivitous face slightly longer than the dorsal face.

Queen

Kallal & LaPolla (2012) - Measurements (n=4) TL: 3.31–4.84; HW: 0.68–0.83; HL: 0.73–0.82; EL: 0.24–0.26; SL: 0.77–0.81; PW: 0.80–0.93; MW: 0.76–0.86; WL: 1.15–1.41; GL: 1.31–2.62; PH: 0.41–0.51; PFL: 0.63–0.80; PFW: 0.21–0.22. SMC: 0; PMC: 3–6; MMC: 8–20; MtMC: 3–5. Indices: CI: 92–104; REL: 31–35; SI: 96–111; FI: 83–110.

Dark brown to nearly black in color; scapes and mandibles lighter brown; leg joints and tarsi yellowish-brown; cuticle smooth and shiny; body with dense pubescence; macrosetae brown. Head as broad as it is long; scapes surpass posterior margin by first 3–4 funicular segments. Propodeum with short, sloped dorsal face and steeply sloped declivitous face.

Male

Kallal & LaPolla (2012) - Measurements (n=4) TL: 1.75–2.35; HW: 0.48–0.54; HL: 0.48–0.59; EL: 0.20–0.22; SL: 0.50–0.66; PW: 0.44–0.61; MW: 0.34–0.50; WL: 0.65–0.80; GL: 0.62–0.98; PH: 0.22–0.32; PFL: 0.45–0.56; PFW: 0.13–0.16; PL: 0.19–0.24. SMC: 0; MMC: 3–9; MtMC: 2. Indices: CI: 89–100; REL: 36–42; SI: 100–115; FI: 81–99.

Overall brown with yellowish-brown scapes and legs; gaster often slightly darker brown; cuticle smooth and shiny; cephalic pubescence moderate to dense; mesonotum with dense pubescence; gastral pubescence virtually absent. Head slightly longer than broad; eyes weakly convex, scarcely extending beyond lateral margins of the head in full face view; scapes surpass posterior margin by first 3–4 segments; mandible with long, straight inner mandibular margin; basal angle of approximately 90°; and a smooth masticatory margin large apical tooth and smaller subapical tooth. Mesosoma enlarged to accommodate flight muscles; in lateral view, pronotal margin short and relatively straight; propodeum with long, sloped dorsal face and shorter, nearly vertical declivitous face. Genitalia: parameres laterally oriented, short, triangular; digiti and cuspides as in faisonensis and concinna, but overall shorter, particular the cuspides; aedeagal valves triangular, with small notch toward the base of the ventral edge, teeth absent; ninth sternite with moderately long ventral apodeme and short, blunt lateral apodemes.

Karyotype

  • n = 15 (Crozier, 1975) (as Paratrechina parvula).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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