Aphaenogaster ashmeadi

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Aphaenogaster ashmeadi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Aphaenogaster
Species: A. ashmeadi
Binomial name
Aphaenogaster ashmeadi
(Emery, 1895)

Aphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103563 profile 1.jpg

Aphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103563 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen Label

Synonyms

This species nests in sandy soil, with the nest entrance normally camouflaged or located under objects such as stones or pieces of wood.

Identification

The scape of the worker and female is widened at the base, but the widened region is very short, about 1/6 of the total length of the scape. The clypeus has a number of poorly defined carinae, and entire dorsum of the head is covered with a granular-rugose sculpturing. The entire mesosoma is sculptured, mostly with punctures, and is only weakly shining. The propodeal spines are relatively short, their length is less than that of the posterior face of the propodeum.

Aphaenogaster ashmeadi is similar to Aphaenogaster treatae, but has a smaller lobe at the base of the scape. The lobe is one-fifth the length of the scape (DeMarco, 2015).

Florida

Deyrup (2016) - This species resembles Aphaenogaster treatae; both species are large (often 7-8 mm), with a conspicuous expanded lobe (of unknown function, but possibly serving to protect the amennal base) at the base of the antennal scape. In ashmeadi, this lobe is broad in a dorsal view and thin and convex in a side view; in treatae it is thickened, such that there is a distinct lateral face in lateral view. In Peninsular Florida, ashmeadi is blackish brown, while treatae is reddish brown, but in the western Panhandle, both are reddish brown.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Florida

Deyrup (2016) - North Carolina south into Florida, west into Missouri and Texas (Smith 1979). In Florida, ashmeadi is known from Highlands County northward and west through the Panhandle. There are some large gaps in this known distribution, but ashmeadi probably occurs in most of the upland natural habitats in central and north Florida. Despite its large size, ashmeadi is often difficult to find, and workers have a tendency to freeze or hide under dead leaves when alarmed.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 40.26° to 27.18333333°.

   
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (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

Found in sand pine, oak scrub, live oak and laurel oak habitats. It can tolerate disturbed conditions.

Floirda

Deyrup (2016) - The information in this paragraph is summarized from Carroll (1975). Nests are in soil in a variety of habitats, ranging from mesic hammocks to open xeric forest, and from undisturbed forest to shaded lawns. Nests usually have one or two entrances (up to six), which may be marked with a short turret of plant debris and insect remains. There are usually five to seven chambers, including a superficial chamber with pupae and prepupae, a refuse chamber, and a deeper chamber, often approximately 25 cm below the surface, containing the queen. Mature colonies (those producing alates) usually contain approximately 100 to 250 workers. The largest colony had 423 workers. Alates are in the nest by mid-April, and flights are in June and July. Workers forage both day and night in warm weather, usually in shaded or semishaded habitats. Almost all foraging is on the surface of leaf litter. The diet of ashmeadi is primarily live and dead arthropods. Foragers are able to subdue caterpillars, small spiders, Diptera, Orthoptera, and smaller ants. Certain mushrooms are cut up and brought back to the nest, the most frequently collected belonging to the genera Russula and Marasmiellus.

Van Pelt (1958), who observed ashmeadi in Putnam County, Florida, found it in well-drained habitats, especially in xeric forests and scrubby flatwoods, and more rarely in sandhills, mesic forests, and bayheads. One nest included 333 workers, as well as 250 pupae, eggs, and a queen. Workers did not forage during winter. In North Carolina, Carter (1962) found ashmeadi restricted to the Coastal Plain, where it usually occurred in open forests on sandy soil. On one occasion, I found the pupal skins of four mydas flies protruding from the ground adjacent to the nest hole of ashmeadi in low flatwoods, suggesting that the flies might have been inquilines as larvae.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Aphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103560 head 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103560 profile 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103560 dorsal 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103560 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0103560. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Aphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104853 head 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104853 profile 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104853 dorsal 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104853 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0104853. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Aphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103566 head 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103566 profile 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0103566 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0103566. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Aphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104854 head 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104854 profile 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104854 profile 2.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104854 dorsal 1.jpgAphaenogaster ashmeadi casent0104854 label 1.jpg
Male (alate). Specimen code casent0104854. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • ashmeadi. Stenamma (Aphaenogaster) treatae var. ashmeadi Emery, 1895c: 302 (w.) U.S.A. (Florida).
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
    • Type-locality: U.S.A.: Florida (no collector’s name).
    • Type-depository: MSNG.
    • Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 209 (q.).
    • Combination in Aphaenogaster: Wheeler, W.M. 1913c: 114;
    • combination in Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma): Emery, 1921f: 60.
    • Subspecies of treatae: Wheeler, W.M. 1910g: 565; Wheeler, W.M. 1913c: 114; Emery, 1921f: 60; Smith, M.R. 1930a: 4; Wheeler, W.M. 1932a: 6; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, E.W. 1934: 11 (in key); Smith, M.R. 1951a: 798.
    • Status as species: Creighton, 1950a: 142; Smith, M.R. 1958c: 117; Smith, M.R. 1967: 352; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1360; Deyrup, et al. 1989: 94; Bolton, 1995b: 68; Deyrup, 2003: 44; Coovert, 2005: 45; Deyrup, 2017: 45; Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 208 (redescription).
    • Senior synonym of harnedi: Creighton, 1950a: 142; Smith, M.R. 1958c: 117; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1360; Bolton, 1995b: 68; Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 208.
    • Distribution: U.S.A.
  • harnedi. Aphaenogaster treatae subsp. harnedi Wheeler, W.M. 1919b: 50 (w.) U.S.A. (Mississippi).
    • Type-material: 10 syntype workers.
    • Type-locality: U.S.A.: Mississippi, Caesar (R.W. Harned).
    • Type-depository: MCZC.
    • [Misspelled as hardeni by Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 208.]
    • Subspecies of treatae: Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, E.W. 1934: 11 (in key); Smith, M.R. 1951a: 798.
    • Junior synonym of ashmeadi: Creighton, 1950a: 142; Smith, M.R. 1958c: 117; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1360; Bolton, 1995b: 70; Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 208.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Annotated Ant Species List Ordway-Swisher Biological Station. Downloaded at http://ordway-swisher.ufl.edu/species/os-hymenoptera.htm on 5th Oct 2010.
  • Atchison R. A., J. Hulcr, and A. Lucky. 2018. Managed fire frequency significantly influences the litter arthropod community in longleaf pine flatwoods. Environmental Entomology 20(10): 1-11.
  • Dash S. T. and L. M. Hooper-Bui. 2008. Species diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Louisiana. Conservation Biology and Biodiversity. 101: 1056-1066
  • Del Toro, I. 2010. PERSONAL COMMUNICATION. MUSEUM RECORDS COLLATED BY ISRAEL DEL TORO
  • Deyrup M., C. Johnson, G. C. Wheeler, J. Wheeler. 1989. A preliminary list of the ants of Florida. Florida Entomologist 72: 91-101
  • Deyrup, M. 2003. An updated list of Florida ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Florida Entomologist 86(1):43-48.
  • Deyrup, M. and J. Trager. 1986. Ants of the Archbold Biological Station, Highlands County, Florida (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Florida Entomologist 69(1):206-228
  • Epperson, D.M. and C.R. Allen. 2010. Red Imported Fire Ant Impacts on Upland Arthropods in Southern Mississippi. American Midland Naturalist, 163(1):54-63.
  • Guénard B., K. A. Mccaffrey, A. Lucky, and R. R. Dunn. 2012. Ants of North Carolina: an updated list (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3552: 1-36.
  • Ipser R. M. 2004. Native and exotic ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Georgia: Ecological Relationships with implications for development of biologically-based management strategies. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Georgia. 165 pages.
  • Ipser, R.M., M.A. Brinkman, W.A. Gardner and H.B. Peeler. 2004. A Survey of Ground-Dwelling Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Georgia. The Florida Entomologist 87(3) 253-260.
  • Jeanne R. J. 1979. A latitudinal gradient in rates of ant predation. Ecology 60(6): 1211-1224.
  • Johnson C. 1986. A north Florida ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insecta Mundi 1: 243-246
  • Lubertazzi D. and Tschinkel WR. 2003. Ant community change across a ground vegetation gradient in north Florida’s longleaf pine flatwoods. 17pp. Journal of Insect Science. 3:21
  • MacGown J. A. 2015. Report on the ants collected on Spring Island, Beaufort County, South Carolina. A report submitted to Spring Island Nature Preserve, May 2015. Mississippi Entomological Museum Report #2015-01. 8 pp
  • MacGown J. A., J. G. Hill, and M. Deyrup. 2009. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Little Ohoopee River Dunes, Emanuel County, Georgia. J. Entomol. Sci. 44(3): 193-197.
  • MacGown J. A., and R. Whitehouse. 2015. A preliminary report of the ants of West Ship Island. A report submitted to the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Mississippi Entomological Museum Report #2015-02. 9 pp.
  • MacGown, J.A. and JV.G. Hill. Ants of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee and North Carolina).
  • MacGown, J.A. and T. Lockley. Ants of Horn Island, Jackson County, Mississippi
  • Michigan State University, The Albert J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection. Accessed on January 7th 2014 at http://www.arc.ent.msu.edu:8080/collection/index.jsp
  • Tschinkel W. R.,T. Murdock, J. R. King and C. Kwapich. 2012. Ant distribution in relation to ground water in north Florida pine flatwoods. Journal of Insect Science 12: 114
  • Van Pelt A. F. 1948. A Preliminary Key to the Worker Ants of Alachua County, Florida. The Florida Entomologist 30(4): 57-67
  • Van Pelt A. F. 1966. Activity and density of old-field ants of the Savannah River Plant, South Carolina. Journal of the Elisha Mitchell Scientific Society 82: 35-43.
  • Van Pelt A., and J. B. Gentry. 1985. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Savannah River Plant, South Carolina. Dept. Energy, Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC., Report SRO-NERP-14, 56 p.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1913. Ants collected in Georgia by Dr. J. C. Bradley and Mr. W. T. Davis. Psyche (Cambridge) 20: 112-117.
  • Whitcomb W. H., H. A. Denmark, A. P. Bhatkar, and G. L. Greene. 1972. Preliminary studies on the ants of Florida soybean fields. Florida Entomologist 55: 129-142.
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