Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
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: 77
PDF downloaded: 34

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.

 

References

  1. AntWeb (2018) AntWeb.org, Available from: https://www.antweb.org/description.do?subfamily=myrmicinae&genus=strumigenys&rank=genus&resetProject=true (accessed March 6, 2018)

    Antwiki (2018) Antwiki.org, Available from: http://antwiki.org/wiki/Strumigenys (accessed 24 April 2019)

    Baroni Urbani, C. & De Andrade, M.L. (2007) The ant tribe Dacetini: limits and constituent genera, with descriptions of new species. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “G. Doria, 99, 1–191.

    Bolton, B. (2000) The ant tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute. Gainesville, FL, 65, 1028 pp.

    Bolton, B. (2016) An online catalog of the ants of the world. Available from: http://antcat.org/catalog/429559?qq=Strumigenys (accessed 17 August 2017)

    Brown, W.L.Jr. & Wilson, E.O. (1959) The evolution of the dacetine ants. Quarterly Review of Biology, 34, 278–294.

    https://doi.org/10.1086/402828

    Bulto, P.L., Rodriguez, A.P., Valencia, A.R., Vega, N.L., Gonzalez, M.D. & Carrera, A.P. (2006) Assessment of human health vulnerability to climate variability and change in Cuba. Environmental Health Perspectives, 114, 1942–1949.

    https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.8434

    Creighton, W.S. (1937) Notes on the habits of Strumigenys. Psyche, 44, 97–109.

    https://doi.org/10.1155/1937/62541

    Deyrup, M. & Cover, S. (2009) Dacetine Ants in Southeastern North America (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Southeastern Naturalist, 8, 191–212.

    https://doi.org/10.1656/058.008.0201

    Evenhuis, N.L. (2018) The insect and spider collections of the world website. Available from: http://hbs.bishopmuseum.org/codens (accessed 22 August 2018)

    Fisher, B.L. (1999) Improving inventory efficiency: A case study of leaf-litter ant diversity in Madagascar. Ecological Applications, 9, 714–731.

    https://doi.org/10.1890/1051-0761(1999)009[0714:IIEACS]2.0.CO;2

    Kitahiro, S., Yamamoto, K., Touyama, Y. & Ito, F. (2014) Habitat preferences of Strumigenys ants in western Japan (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Asian Myrmecology, 6, 91–94.

    Lubertazzi, D. (2019) The ants of Hispaniola. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 162 (2), 59–210.

    https://doi.org/10.3099/MCZ-43.1

    Macfadyen, A. (1953) Notes on methods for the extraction of small soil arthropods. Journal of Animal Ecology, 22, 65–77.

    https://doi.org/10.2307/1691

    R Core Team (2019) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Available from http://www.R-project.org/ (accessed March 25, 2019)

    Santschi, F. (1932) Quelques fourmis inédites de l’Amérique centrale et Cuba. Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro), 2, 410–414.

    Ward, P.S., Brady, S.G., Fisher, B.L. & Schultz, T.R. (2015) The evolution of myrmicine ants: phylogeny and biogeography of a hyperdiverse ant clade (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology, 40, 61–81.

    https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12090

    Wilson, E.O. (1953) The ecology of some North American dacetine ants. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 46, 479–495.

    https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/46.4.479