A new species group of Strumigenys (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Ecuador, with a description of its mandible morphology

Booher, Douglas B.; Hoenle, Philipp O.

doi:10.3897/zookeys.1036.62034

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…In our sampled taxa, we observe denticles between the incisors only in Protanilla. According to our interpretational scheme, they also occur in other ant taxa such as Leptanilla (Keller 2011 images) and are common and of taxonomic importance in trap-jaw ants and genera such as Strumigenys (e.g., Booher and Hoenle, 2021). Additional teeth in this specific region are common in different apoid taxa (e.g., Bohart andMenke 1976, Michener andFraser 1978).…”

Section: Mandiblementioning

confidence: 85%

The First Reconstruction of the Head Anatomy of a Cretaceous Insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the Early Evolution of Ants

Richter

Boudinot

Yamamoto

et al. 2022

Insect Systematics and Diversity

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The fossil record allows a unique glimpse into the evolutionary history of organisms living on Earth today. We discovered a specimen of the stem group ant †Gerontoformica gracilis (Barden and Grimaldi, 2014) in Kachin amber with near-complete preservation of internal head structures, which we document employing µ-computed-tomography-based 3D reconstructions. We compare †Gerontoformica to four outgroup taxa and four extant ant species, employing parsimony and Bayesian ancestral state reconstruction to identify morphological differences and similarities between stem and crown ants and thus improve our understanding of ant evolution through the lens of head anatomy. Of 149 morphological characters, 87 are new in this study, and almost all applicable to the fossil. †Gerontoformica gracilis shares shortened dorsal tentorial arms, basally angled pedicels, and the pharyngeal gland as apomorphies with other total clade Formicidae. Retained plesiomorphies include mandible shape and features of the prepharynx. Implications of the reconstructed transitions especially for the ant groundplan are critically discussed based on our restricted taxon sampling, emphasizing the crucial information derived from internal anatomy which is applied to deep time for the first time. Based on the falcate mandible in †Gerontoformica and other Aculeata, we present hypotheses for how the shovel-shaped mandibles in crown Formicidae could have evolved. Our results support the notion of †Gerontoformica as ‘generalized’ above-ground predator missing crucial novelties of crown ants which may have helped the latter survive the end-Cretaceous extinction. Our study is an important step for anatomical research on Cretaceous insects and a glimpse into the early evolution of ant heads.

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Section: Mandiblementioning

confidence: 85%

The First Reconstruction of the Head Anatomy of a Cretaceous Insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the Early Evolution of Ants

Richter

Boudinot

Yamamoto

et al. 2022

Insect Systematics and Diversity

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“…Based on these biogeographic considerations, our expectation was to observe a considerable species overlap between the two sites, encompassing both army ants and their prey. This anticipation holds, despite the Choc o being recognized for some notable degree of endemism (Cucal on et al, 2022;Pérez-Escobar et al, 2019;Ruiz-Guerra et al, 2007), including remarkable species of ants (e.g., Booher & Hoenle, 2021;Hoenle et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in army ants across two distant neotropical rainforests

Hoenle,

Merkel,

Donoso

et al. 2024

Ecosphere

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Army ants are widely recognized as keystone species in neotropical rainforests due to their role as important arthropod predators. Their large‐scale raids involve thousands of workers scouring the forest floor in pursuit of prey, primarily capturing other invertebrates. Up to 20 species of army ants coexist in a rainforest, and dietary niche differentiation has been proposed as a mechanism to alleviate competition among them. Based on only a handful of study sites, however, our understanding of the precise dietary preferences and the extent of niche differentiation remains notably limited. In this study, we aimed to expand our knowledge of army ant communities by resolving an Ecuadorian predation network consisting of 244 prey species and 13 army ant species representing the five known neotropical army ant genera: Cheliomyrmex, Eciton, Labidus, Neivamyrmex, and Nomamyrmex. We collected 2156 prey items from 180 army ant raids/emigrations, and of these, we identified 1945 prey items to the family level, 1313 to the genus level, and 664 to the species level based on morphological identifications and DNA barcodes. Prey consisted primarily of other ants (1843 prey items; 153 ant species), to the largest part ant brood (N = 1726). Hence, most army ant species chiefly plundered the nests of other ants, while the three swarm raiding species, that is, Lab. praedator, Lab. spininodis, and Ec. burchellii, exhibited a relatively high proportion of non‐ant invertebrate prey in their diet. The predation network showed a high degree of specialization (H2′ = 0.65), characterized by little dietary niche overlap among sympatric species. We compared the Ecuadorian network with one previously studied in Costa Rica and found that, despite the large geographic distance, prey preferences remained remarkably similar. We discovered species‐specific preferences for captured ant genera and species, despite some species turnover in both army ants and prey. Additionally, army ants also exhibited consistent spatiotemporal raiding preferences across study sites. In conclusion, predation preferences within army ant communities exhibited consistency in multiple niche dimensions across two distant neotropical rainforests, suggesting a notable level of predictability within army ant predation networks.

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“…More than two decades after the global revision, various isolated studies conducted worldwide have added species to the genus. In the Neotropical region, 24 new species have been described since 2000, for a current total number of 210 species [6,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. In this contribution, one additional species, Strumigenys flavianae sp.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Ant Species of Strumigenys Smith, 1860 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Chaul

2023

Taxonomy

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Strumigenys is one of the largest genera of ants, and one of the few which has received relatively recent global taxonomic treatment at the species level. Despite this, many new species continue to be found in most biogeographic regions. Strumigenys flavianae sp. nov. is described based on material collected in Viçosa, in the state of Minas Gerais, among secondary growth remnants of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Three workers of this new taxon are known, and the lack of additional specimens in the main ant collections harboring Atlantic Forest ants indicates its rarity. Strumigenys flavianae can be differentiated from all Neotropical Strumigenys for its overall slenderness, flagellate and wire-like pilosity, extremely long head, large and medially notched subpetiolar spongiform tissue and a mostly reticulate pleura. The new species is distinct from all other species found in the Atlantic Forest. It has similarities to some Amazonian species in the hyphata-group (S. cincinnata and S. hyphata) and the probatrix-group (S. doryceps), while still having significant differences relative to both. Therefore, a new species group was created to account for the new species.

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A new species group of Strumigenys (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Ecuador, with a description of its mandible morphology

Cited by 6 publications

References 35 publications

The First Reconstruction of the Head Anatomy of a Cretaceous Insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the Early Evolution of Ants

The First Reconstruction of the Head Anatomy of a Cretaceous Insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis(Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the Early Evolution of Ants

Hunting habits die hard: Conserved prey preferences in army ants across two distant neotropical rainforests

A New Ant Species of Strumigenys Smith, 1860 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

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