Azteca aurita

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online


Azteca aurita
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Azteca
Species: A. aurita
Binomial name
Azteca aurita
Emery, 1893

Azteca aurita casent0903011 p 1 high.jpg

Azteca aurita casent0903011 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

Identification

A member of the Azteca aurita group. See the group page and keys for identification.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 9.486944444° to -14.79861111°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Bolivia, Brazil (type locality), Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru.

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

Explore-icon.png Explore Overview of Azteca biology 
All known Azteca species are arboreal, nesting in living or dead wood, or external carton nests. Some species exhibit obligate associations with myrmecophytes, especially of the genus Cecropia (see Chapter 14 of The Ants). Feeding habits are generalized with foraging occurring both arboreally and on the ground.

Castes

Queen

Azteca aurita queen.jpg
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Nomenclature

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

  • aurita. Azteca aurita Emery, 1893b: 146, pl. 2, figs. 85, 86 (q.) BRAZIL (Pará).
    • Longino, 2007: 55 (w.).
    • Status as species: Forel, 1895b: 109; Forel, 1899c: 115; Forel, 1901h: 65; Forel, 1906d: 237; Emery, 1913a: 32; Mann, 1916: 470; Borgmeier, 1923: 89; Kempf, 1972a: 30; Shattuck, 1994: 12; Bolton, 1995b: 78; Longino, 2007: 55 (redescription); Guerrero, et al. 2010: 53 (in key); Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 107; Guerrero, 2019: 705.
    • Senior synonym of silvae: Longino, 2007: 55.
  • silvae. Azteca lacrymosa r. silvae Forel, 1899c: 116 (s.w.) BRAZIL (Pará).
    • Subspecies of aurita: Forel, 1906d: 237; Emery, 1913a: 32; Mann, 1916: 470; Borgmeier, 1923: 90; Kempf, 1972a: 30; Shattuck, 1994: 13; Bolton, 1995b: 79.
    • Junior synonym of aurita: Longino, 2007: 55.
  • spuria. Azteca trigona r. mathildae var. spuria Forel, 1906d: 238 (s.w.) BRAZIL (Pará).
    • As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Emery, 1913a: 34; Mann, 1916: 471; Wheeler, W.M. 1922c: 15; Borgmeier, 1923: 96; Wheeler, W.M. 1942: 245; Kempf, 1972a: 35.
    • Declared as unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Shattuck, 1994: 31.

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

Description

Worker

Longino (2007) - (n=2): HLA 1.22 (1.11–1.32), HW 1.21 (1.11–1.30), SL 1.11 (1.03–1.19), CI 99 (98–100), SI 92 (90–93).

Currently indistinguishable from Azteca pilosula.

Queen

Longino (2007) - (n=2): HLA 1.28 (1.25–1.30), HW 1.11 (1.10–1.11), SL 1.21 (1.18–1.24), CI 87 (85–88), SI 95 (94–95).

Palpal formula 4,3; middle and hind tibia lacking apical spur; mandible strongly flattened, apical tooth much longer than penultimate tooth; medial clypeal lobe strongly convex and protruding, extending well beyond lateral clypeal lobes; head quadrate, sides flat and diverging posteriorly, posterior margin strongly angulate laterally, deeply excavate medially; petiolar node short, broadly triangular; scape, mandible, lateral margin of head anterior to compound eye, and legs covered with uniform vestiture of short, dense, white pilosity; lateral margin of head posterior to eye, posterior margin of head, mesosomal dorsum, petiolar dorsum, and gaster lacking erect setae; entire body orange, with smooth, highly polished and reflective surface.

Type Material

Longino (2007) - Holotype queen: Brazil, Pará, Braganza (Oberthür) Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa (examined).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Basset Y., L. Cizek, P. Cuenoud, R. K. Didham, F. Guilhaumon, O. Missa, V. Novotny, F. Odegaards, T. Roslin, J. Schmidl et al. 2012. Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest. Science 338(6113): 1481-1484.
  • Borgmeier T. 1923. Catalogo systematico e synonymico das formigas do Brasil. 1 parte. Subfam. Dorylinae, Cerapachyinae, Ponerinae, Dolichoderinae. Archivos do Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro) 24: 33-103.
  • Escalante Gutiérrez J. A. 1993. Especies de hormigas conocidas del Perú (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Revista Peruana de Entomología 34:1-13.
  • Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
  • Forel A. 1901. Formiciden des Naturhistorischen Museums zu Hamburg. Neue Calyptomyrmex-, Dacryon-, Podomyrma- und Echinopla-Arten. Mitt. Naturhist. Mus. Hambg. 18: 43-82.
  • Forel A. 1912. Formicides néotropiques. Part V. 4me sous-famille Dolichoderinae Forel. Mémoires de la Société Entomologique de Belgique. 20: 33-58.
  • Guerrero R. J., J. H. C. Delabie, and A. Dejean. 2010. Taxonomic contribution to the aurita group of the ant genus Azteca (Formicidae: Dolichoderinae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 19(1): 51-65.
  • Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
  • Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.