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Aphaenogaster megommata
| Aphaenogaster megommata | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Aphaenogaster |
| Species: | A. megommata |
| Binomial name | |
| Aphaenogaster megommata Smith, M.R., 1963
| |
Aphaenogaster megommata is a desert species that forages only at night (DeMarco, 2015).
Identification
This pale yellow species has huge eyes and miniscule propodeal spines (DeMarco, 2015).
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Western Arizona through California and Nevada to Oregon; northeastern Lower California and northwestern Sonora.
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 40.32278° to 25.98333333°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).
Neotropical Region: Mexico.
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. |
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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
Worker
Images from AntWeb
  
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| Worker. Specimen code casent0005724. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by UCDC, Davis, CA, USA. |
Alate Female
   
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Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- megommata. Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma) megommatus Smith, M.R. 1963: 244, fig. 1 (w.) U.S.A. (Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, California).
- Cole, 1966: 9 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1972b: 238 (l.).
- Status as species: Cole, 1966: 9; Smith, M.R. 1967: 352; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1361; Snelling, R.R. & George, 1979: 72; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1986g: 36; Bolton, 1995b: 71; Ward, 2005: 65; Mackay & Mackay, 2017: 298 (redescription).
Description
References
- Alatorre-Bracamontes, C.E., Vásquez-Bolaños, M. 2010. Lista comentada de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del norte de México. Dugesiana 17(1): 9-36.
- Cole, A. C., Jr. 1966b. Ants of the Nevada Test Site. Brigham Young Univ. Sci. Bull. Biol. Ser. 7(3): 1-27. (page 9, queen, male described)
- DeMarco, B.B. 2015. Phylogeny of North American Aphaenogaster species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) reconstructed with morphological and DNA data. Ph.D. thesis, Michigan State University.
- Perez-Delgado, A.J., Lugo, D., Santos-Perdomo, I., Jimenez-Garcia, E., Suarez, D. 2023. Rediscovery of the Canary Islands endemic Aphaenogaster hesperia Santschi, 1911 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae). Zootaxa 5383(1), 67–74 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5383.1.5).
- Smith, M. R. 1963c. A new species of Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma) from the western United States (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 71: 244-246.(page 244, fig. 1 worker described)
- Wheeler, G. C. and J. Wheeler. 1986. The ants of Nevada. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles.
- Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1972b. Ant larvae of the subfamily Myrmicinae: second supplement on the tribes Myrmicini and Pheidolini. J. Ga. Entomol. Soc. 7: 233-246 (page 238, larva described)
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
- Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
- Johnson, R.A. and P.S. Ward. 2002. Biogeography and endemism of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Baja California, Mexico: a first overview. Journal of Biogeography 29:10091026/
- La Rivers I. 1968. A first listing of the ants of Nevada. Biological Society of Nevada, Occasional Papers 17: 1-12.
- Nash M. S., Bradford D. F., Franson S. E., Neale A. C., Whitford W. G. and Heggem D. T. 2004. Livestock grazing effects on ant communities in the eastern Mojave Desert, USA. Ecological Indicators 4: 199-213
- Smith M. R. 1963. A new species of Aphaenogaster (Attomyrma) from the western United States (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 71: 244-246.
- Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
- Wheeler G. C., and J. Wheeler. 1986. The ants of Nevada. Los Angeles: Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, vii + 138 pp.