Dorymyrmex xerophylus

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Dorymyrmex xerophylus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Dorymyrmex
Species: D. xerophylus
Binomial name
Dorymyrmex xerophylus
Cuezzo & Guerrero, 2011

Dorymyrmex xerophylus worker p.jpg

Dorymyrmex xerophylus worker p2.jpg

The Magdalena types were collected with sausage baits, between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. Apparently, D. xerophylus prefers, like other Dorymyrmex, open areas of dry forests in lowlands. Specimens were found in dry forest of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, dominated by Poaceae. This habitat is subjected to occasional human disturbances resulting from logging. Ants collected in La Guajira live in restored areas of opencast coal mines, abandoned 10 years ago. (Cuezzo and Guerrero 2011)

Identification

Cuezzo and Guerrero (2011) - Worker Small ants, TLI: <117. Head oval in full-face view, lateral margins parallel, and posterior margin strongly convex. Compound eyes not surpassing the sides of cephalic capsule. Propodeal tubercle short, stout, and lower than mesonotum. Pubescence dense and golden.

D. xerophylus is close to Dorymyrmex goeldii but differ by size, pubescence, and color. In Colombia, only this two species have the posterior margin of head strongly convex and head more than twice longer than wide (CI: 73-74 and 77–40 for D. xerophylus and D. goeldii, resp.).

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Known only from the type material.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 12.49972222° to 11.27305556°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Colombia (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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.
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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.
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Biology

Castes

Known only from the worker caste.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • xerophylus. Dorymyrmex xerophylus Cuezzo & Guerrero, 2011: 21, figs. 12a-c, 14 (w) COLOMBIA.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Holotype (Paratype): HL: 0.60 (0.62). HW: 0.44 (0.46). EL: 0.18 (0.18). EW: 0.12 (0.12). SL: 0.52 (0.54). WL: 0.70 (070). CI: 73 (74). SI: 87 (87). REL: 41 (39). OI: 67 (67). TLI: 117 (113).

Concolorous, light brown; only tergites 2 and 4 of gaster, darker. Head: longer than wide. Mandibles feebly striate (only seen at more than 100x), with 4 teeth and 2 denticles. Compound eye well-developed in the first part of head in full-face view. Psammophore with only few hairs disposed in the central part of ventral cephalic face, not reaching the oral cavity; those hairs are equidistant between the foramen magnum and the oral cavity. Scapes short (SI = 87). Mesosoma: dorsal face of pronotum with two erect hairs lengthless than the greatest width of the antennal scape. Mesonotum straight in profile, lower than pronotum, only interrupted in its posterior end, forming a declivitous face continuous with propodeum. Metasoma: petiolar scale wide, thin and rounded apically.

Type Material

Holotype. 1w, Magdalena, Santa Marta, Vereda Mosquito, 11°10′23.6″N 74°10′45″W / 11.173222°N 74.17917°W / 11.173222; -74.17917, 96 m, manual collection; 03 Jan 2008, R. Guerrero, coll., COLOMBIA (ICN). Paratypes: 1w, La Guajira, Zona El Cerrej ´ on, 11°1′59.88″N 72°39′0″W / 11.0333°N 72.65°W / 11.0333; -72.65, 240 m, COLOMBIA, pitfall trap, 19 Dec 2006, R. Guerrero, coll., (ICN); 1w, Magdalena, Santa Marta, Vereda Mosquito, 11°10′23.6″N 74°10′45″W / 11.173222°N 74.17917°W / 11.173222; -74.17917, 96m, COLOMBIA, manual collection; 03 Jan 2008, R. Guerrero, coll., (CEUM).

Etymology

The specific name is in apposition, refers to the extremely arid environments where D. xerophylus usually nests.

References