Acromyrmex volcanus
Acromyrmex octospinosus volcanus | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
Tribe: | Attini |
Genus: | Acromyrmex |
Species: | A. volcanus |
Binomial name | |
Acromyrmex volcanus Wheeler, W.M., 1937 |
Identification
Distribution
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 10.99261° to 10.14889°.
North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality), Honduras, Nicaragua.
Distribution based on AntMaps
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. |
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. |
Biology
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Interactions with other organisms
Many organisms use chemicals to deter enemies. Some spiders can modify the composition of their silk to deter predators from climbing onto their webs. The Malaysian golden orb-weaver Nephila antipodiana (Walckenaer) produces silk containing an alkaloid (2-pyrrolidinone) that functions as a defense against ant invasion. Ants avoid silk containing this chemical. In the present study, we test the generality of ants' silk avoidance behavior in the field. We introduced three ant species to the orb webs of Nephila clavipes (Linnaeus) in the tropical rainforest of La Selva, Costa Rica. We found that predatory army ants (Eciton burchellii) as well as non-predatory leaf-cutting ants (Atta cephalotes and Acromyrmex volcanus) avoided adult N. clavipes silk, suggesting that an additional species within genus Nephila may possess ant-deterring silk. Our field assay also suggests that silk avoidance behavior is found in multiple ant species.
Castes
Images from AntWeb
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code inbiocri001283113. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by JTLC. |
Male (alate). Specimen code inbiocri001283114. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by JTLC. |
Worker. Specimen code inbiocri001284242. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by JTLC. |
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- volcanus. Acromyrmex octospinosus subsp. volcanus Wheeler, W.M. 1937c: 73 (s.) COSTA RICA.
- Subspecies of octospinosus: Kempf, 1972a: 14; Bolton, 1995b: 57 (error).
- Status as species: Wetterer, 1993: 66.
Description
References
- Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
- Knowlton, E. D. and A. Kamath. 2018. Ants Do Not Traverse the Silk of Adult Female Nephila clavipes (Linnaeus) Webs. Neotropical Entomology. 47:780-785. doi:10.1007/s13744-018-0631-6
- Yanoviak, S.P., Frederick, D.N. 2014. Water surface locomotion in tropical canopy ants. Journal of Experimental Biology 217, 2163–2170 (doi:10.1242/jeb.101600).
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Adams B. J., S. A. Schnitzer, and S. P. Yanoviak. 2019. Connectivity explains local ant community structure in a Neotropical forest canopy: a large-scale experimental approach. Ecology 100(6): e02673.
- INBio Collection (via Gbif)
- Longino J. T. 2013. Ants of Nicargua. Consulted on 18 Jan 2013. https://sites.google.com/site/longinollama/reports/ants-of-nicaragua
- Longino J. T., J. Coddington, and R. K. Colwell. 2002. The ant fauna of a tropical rain forest: estimating species richness three different ways. Ecology 83: 689-702.
- Wetterer J. K. 1993. Foraging and nesting ecology of a Costa Rican leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex volcanus. Psyche (Camb.) 100: 65-76.