Acropyga species groups

LaPolla (2004) created nine informal species-groups within Acropyga to replace the old subgenera that had previously been recognized within the genus. These species-groups were largely based on a phylogenetic analysis of male genitalic characters. Shown below is this arrangement of species along with all subsequent changes (LaPolla and Fisher 2005, LaPolla and Schneider 2023, LaPolla, Williams & Fan 2017).

acutiventris species-group

• Acropyga acutiventris
• Acropyga rubescens

arnoldi species-group

• Acropyga arnoldi

butteli species-group

• Acropyga butteli
• Acropyga inezae
• Acropyga nipponensis

decedens species-group

• Acropyga decedens

goeldii species-complex

• Acropyga dubitata
• Acropyga epedana
• Acropyga exsanguis
• Acropyga goeldii
• Acropyga hirsutula
• Acropyga keira
• Acropyga palaga
• Acropyga parvidens
• Acropyga romeo

donisthorpei species-group

• Acropyga donisthorpei
• Acropyga tricuspis

myops species-group

• Acropyga ambigua
• Acropyga dubia
• Acropyga gelasis
• Acropyga hystrix
• Acropyga kinomurai
• Acropyga lauta
• Acropyga myops
• Acropyga sauteri

pallida species-group

• Acropyga pallida

panamensis species-group

• Acropyga ayanganna
• Acropyga panamensis

smithii species-group

• Acropyga fuhrmanni
• Acropyga manuense
• Acropyga oreithauma
• Acropyga smithii

New World species; workers with 8 antennal segments and 4 mandibular teeth (one ex¬ception occasionally seen in A. oreithauma where a much smaller tooth is found between the 3rd and basal teeth); males with penial sclerites elongated with distal tips that bend towards gonopods; anterior portion of the ventral margin of the penial sclerites dentate.

yaeyamensis species-group

• Acropyga yaeyamensis

unplaced in a species-group

• Acropyga bakwele
• Acropyga guianensis
• Acropyga oceanica
• Acropyga paleartica
• Acropyga silvestrii
• Acropyga stenotes

References

• LaPolla, J.S. 2004a. Acropyga of the world. Contributions of the American Entomological Institute. 33(3):1-130. (page 16, Acropyga senior synonym of subgenera Atopodon, Malacomyrma, Rhizomyrma)

• LaPolla, J.S. and Fisher, B.L. 2005. A remarkable new species of Acropyga from Gabon, with a key to the Afrotropical species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences. 56(4):601-605.

• LaPolla, J.S., Schneider, S.A. 2023. Trophobiosis between a new species of Acropyga (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and new Neochavesia (Hemiptera, Xenococcidae) from Peru, and establishment of the Acropyga smithii species-group. ZooKeys 1154, 1–16 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.1154.97578).

• LaPolla, J.S., Williams, J.L., Fan, E. 2017. Acropyga oreithauma (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a new species from Panama. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 143: 1-5.