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Issue: Vol. 4656 No. 2: 14 Aug. 2019
Type: Article
Published: 2019-08-14
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4656.2.7
Page range: 335–358
Abstract views: 101
PDF downloaded: 38

A taxonomic revision of the Strumigenys nitens and simulans groups (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), two Caribbean radiations of leaf litter ants

1Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605 USA; University of Illinois, department of entomology, 320 Morrill Hall, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801 USA; Georgia Museum of Natural History, 101 Cedar Street, Athens, GA 30602.
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, 427 E Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ 85281 USA.
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
Hymenoptera Biodiversity Cuba Hispaniola Bahamas Formicidae trap jaw key

Abstract

In this study, we revise two groups of cryptic leaf litter ants, the Strumigenys nitens and Strumigenys simulans species groups. These two groups are restricted to the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. We redefine the species groups, provide a key for the five species in the S. nitens group, and differentiate the two species in the S. simulans group. Four new species are described: Strumigenys caiman sp. nov., S. economoi sp. nov., S. hubbewatyorum sp. nov., and S. zemi sp. nov. We review and provide a key for the Strumigenys fauna of Hispaniola, which comprises the two endemic species S. economoi and S. zemi, six more broadly distributed Neotropical species, and three pan-tropical “tramp” species.

 

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