Azteca aurita

Azteca aurita
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Leptomyrmecini
Genus:	Azteca
Species group:	aurita
Species:	A. aurita
Binomial name
	Azteca aurita; Emery, 1893 Specimen Labels
Synonyms
	Azteca lacrymosa silvae Forel, 1899;

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

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

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

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.

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.

Biology

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.

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Castes

Queen


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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).
- Type-material: holotype queen.
- Type-locality: Brazil: Pará, Braganza (no collector’s name) (sent by R. Oberthür).
- Type-depository: MSNG.
- 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.
- Distribution: Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Peru.
silvae. Azteca lacrymosa r. silvae Forel, 1899c: 116 (w.) BRAZIL (Pará).
- Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
- [Notes (i): Baroni Urbani, 1977e: 80, cites 4w syntypes NHMB; (ii) Shattuck, 1994: 13, cites 30w syntypes (5 MCZC, 21 MHNG, 4 NHMB).]
- Type-locality: Brazil: Pará (E.A. Göldi).
- Type-depositories: MCZC, MHNG, NHMB.
- 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 (w.) BRAZIL (Pará).
- [Note: material included: Brazil: Pará, garden of Göldi Museum (Belém) (E.A. Göldi); 33 workers (Shattuck, 1994: 31), deposited in MHNG, NHMB (no type status).]
- 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

Albuquerque, E., Prado, L., Andrade-Silva, J., Siqueira, E., Sampaio, K., Alves, D., Brandão, C., Andrade, P., Feitosa, R., Koch, E., Delabie, J., Fernandes, I., Baccaro, F., Souza, J., Almeida, R., Silva, R. 2021. Ants of the State of Pará, Brazil: a historical and comprehensive dataset of a key biodiversity hotspot in the Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 5001, 1–83 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5001.1.1).
Emery, C. 1893l. Studio monografico sul genere Azteca Forel. Mem. R. Accad. Sci. Ist. Bologna (5)3:119-152 (page 146, pl.2, figs. 85, 86 queen described)
Forel, A. 1906d. Fourmis néotropiques nouvelles ou peu connues. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 50: 225-249 (page 237, senior synonym of lacrymosa)
Forel, A. 1912i. Formicides néotropiques. Part V. 4me sous-famille Dolichoderinae Forel. Mém. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 20: 33-58 (page 54, senior synonym of pilosula)
Longino, J.T. 2007. A taxonomic review of the genus Azteca in Costa Rica and a global revision of the aurita group. Zootaxa. 1491:1-63.

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.