Ant Taxonomy SubFamily- Pseudomyrmecinae

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About SubFamily Pseudomyrmecinae

Pseudomyrmecinae

Pseudomyrmex is a genus of ants of the formicid family, found in the Americas’ forests and characterized by their mutualistic associations with certain species of trees, which they use to feed and nest and which, in turn, protect by attacking with bites. Stinging and strong odors to any animal that approaches and devouring any plant around. This Subfamily is found in the Nearctic, Neotropics and Oceania.

Pseudomyrmecinae Taxonomy

Animalia Kingdom
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Suborder: Apocrita
Superfamily: Vespoidea
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Pseudomyrmecinae

Pseudomyrmecinae Classification

It includes about two hundred species, distributed among several species groups (Ward, 1989, 1993, 1999). In addition, there are 13 fossil species.

The Pseudomyrmecinae subfamily includes fast-moving ants that can cause a painful sting.

Members of the family are known for their ability to make their nests in trees, drilling or penetrating the trunk and branches to carve out cavities and galleries (Hölldobler and Wilson 1990; Ward 1990).

Their bodies are long and slender with short legs and antennae, and they are perfectly adapted to move along narrow passages in dense wood.

The subfamily comprises about 200 nominal species worldwide in three currently recognized genera: Tetraponera (Paleudropical), Pseudomyrmex (New World), and Myrcidris (some localities in the Amazon Basin and the Guianas) (Ward 1990; Bolton 2003; Ward and Downy 2005).

In Colombia, the pseudomyrmecina fauna includes the species M. epicharis, a specialist that lives in the myrmecophyte Myrcia, and about 80 species of Pseudomyrmex, of which a quarter has not been described (F. Fernández et al., 2019). Workers and queens of Pseudomyrmecinae are characterized by having a relatively short mandible, with 0-3 and 3-10 teeth on the basal margin and chewing teeth, respectively; the median portion of clypeus does not extend posteriorly between frontal carinae and antenna with 12 segments (reduced to 11 in Myrcidris); relatively large compound eye, relatively short scape, pronotum and mesonotum not fused, propodeal spiracle situated in the upper third of propodeum directed anteriorly; metatibia with two apical spurs, distinctly developed postpetiole, stinger present and well developed (Ward 1990; Bolton 2003).

The subfamily is monophyletic and originated during the Cretaceous; species expansion occurred in the Tertiary (Ward and Downie 2005; Wilson and Hölldobler 2005).

The association with their host plants is never parasitic; in many cases, they are even obligatory associations (Ward 1993, 1999). The ants protect themselves by living above ground level by feeding on the secretions of extrafloral nectaries. In contrast, they protect the plants against other phytophagous insects and climbing plants (Hölldobler and Wilson 1990). Pseudomyrmex includes tree ants distributed largely in the New World’s temperate and warm tropical regions, from the southern United States to Chile and Argentina (Ward, 1991; Ward and Downie, 2005; Chomicki et al., 2015).

Pseudomyrmex workers and queens are morphologically characterized by having 1-2 mesial teeth, chewing margin with 5-10 teeth or denticles; palpal formula 6.4, with reductions of 6.3, 5.4, 5.3, and 4.3; antenna with 12 segments; eye relatively large and elongated; ocelli present; metanotal suture varying from clearly imprinted to absent; petiole node varying in shape, anterior peduncle distinctly present or absent; Basitarsal groove of mesotibia and metatibia absent (Ward 1990).

More than 200 species inhabit dead branches of a wide variety of plants, on which about 40 live (in ant-specialized plant domains) (Ward, 1991; Ward and Downie, 2005; Chomicki et al., 2015). ). Species in this group generally have a mutualistic relationship with their host, defending the plant from herbivores and predators in exchange for shelter and sustenance (Janzen 1966; Benson 1985; Davidson et al. 1988; Ward 1991). In addition, they are considered one of the most powerful and useful groups for evaluating ecosystem changes (Alonso 2000). Acacia ants (Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus group) are an example of this process (Janzen, 1966; Ward et al., 2017). In addition to swollen-spined acacia ants (Vachellia spp.), other neotropical plants occupied by pseudomyrmecines include Cordia, Myrcia, Tachigali, and Triplaris (Davidson and McKey 1993).

[FULL LIST OF Pseudomyrmecinae GENUS]

Subfamilies Of Ants