Ants of Hispaniola

This is the project page for the ants of the Hispaniola. This Caribbean island includes two countries: the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Species Lists

• Hispaniola
• Dominican Republic
• Haiti

Identification Resources

• Dominican Republic species and images - The species list, with a set of representative images for each ant.

Keys

• Hispaniola Subfamilies Key

The following subfamilies have keys to the Hispaniola genera:

• Hispaniola Dolichoderinae Genera
• Hispaniola Formicinae Genera
• Hispaniola Myrmicinae Genera
• Hispaniola Ponerinae Genera

• Links to species keys for specific genera are listed and linked to on this page: Hispaniola Ant Genera

Occurrence Data

There are two data sets available:

• File:Ants of Hispaniola publication data.txt
• File:Ants of Hispaniola specimen data.txt

Notes

There are a number of species in Hispaniola with a curious color pattern of a dark body with a creamy-yellow gaster. Anyone that has ever seen Tapinoma melanocephalum knows that small workers with this color pattern creates an illusion that there are tiny bright colored dots moving about the surfaces where these ants are foraging. You notice the bright gaster but it does not immediately register that those moving dots are ants. For species of ants that forage on forest soil and litter, which is often darkly colored, the gasters of the ants stand out while their bodies match to color of the substrate and are difficult to see.

Pheidole harlequina - The major also exhibits the same color pattern.

Crematogaster sp., This is an undescribed species of Crematogaster known from the Dominican Republic.

Linepithema keiteli - This species is quite variable but there are some forms, as shown here, that have the distinctive color pattern.

Temnothorax ciferrii

Tapinoma melanocephalum - An introduced species.

These two Cephalotes species also have a similar color pattern, although these are larger ants that are typically found living arboreally.

Cephalotes flavigaster

Cephalotes unimaculatus