Monomorium carbonarium

Monomorium carbonarium
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Solenopsidini
Genus:	Monomorium
Species group:	monomorium
Species:	M. carbonarium
Binomial name
Monomorium carbonarium (Smith, F., 1858) Specimen Labels

At a Glance

• Invasive

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 38.792° to 32.634°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Cuba.
Oriental Region: India.
Palaearctic Region: Canary Islands, Iberian Peninsula, Iraq, Oman, Portugal, Spain.

It is known to occur in Medeira, Azores, Saudi Arabia and Iraq (Abdul-Rassoul et al. 2013).

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.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Syntype of Monomorium carbonarium. Worker. Specimen code casent0902279. Photographer Ryan Perry, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Worker. Specimen code casent0246069. Photographer Andrea Walker, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by USNM, Washington, DC, USA.

Nomenclature

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

• carbonarium. Myrmica carbonaria Smith, F. 1858b: 127 (w.q.m.) PORTUGAL (Madeira I.).
  • Type-material: syntype worker(s), syntype queen(s), syntype male(s) (numbers not stated).
  • Type-locality: Portugal: Madeira (T.V. Wollaston).
  • Type-depository: BMNH.
  • Combination in Monomorium: Roger, 1863b: 31.
  • Junior synonym of minutum: Mayr, 1862: 753 (in text); Mayr, 1863: 429; Mayr, 1865: 91; Dours, 1873: 169; Bingham, 1903: 210; Tiwari, 1999: 58 (error).
  • Subspecies of minutum: André, 1883a: 333; Emery, 1893c: 82; Dalla Torre, 1893: 67; Emery, 1895c: 274; Emery, 1908h: 681.
  • Status as species: Roger, 1863b: 31, 49; McCook, 1880: 188; Forel, 1881: 8; Emery, 1881b: 532 (in key); Emery, 1890b: 48; Emery, 1894k: 54; Forel, 1899c: 78; Forel, 1903a: 687; Forel, 1904f: 422; Forel, 1907a: 18; Wheeler, W.M. & Mann, 1914: 19; Mann, 1920: 406; Emery, 1922e: 171; Wheeler, W.M. 1923c: 4; Santschi, 1933a: 21; Wheeler, W.M. 1942: 198; Kusnezov, 1949a: 425; Creighton, 1950a: 218; Ettershank, 1966: 88; Yarrow, 1967: 27; Kempf, 1972a: 143; Alayo, 1974: 14 (in key); Collingwood, 1985: 270; Bolton, 1995b: 260; Mohamed, Zalat, et al. 2001: 52; Wetterer, et al. 2007: 14; Casevitz-Weulersse & Galkowski, 2009: 489; Borowiec, L. 2014: 117; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 39; Lebas, et al. 2016: 302.
  • Distribution: Egypt, France, Oman, Portugal (+ Azores, Madeira), Spain.

Description

Worker

Smith (1858): Coal-black, smooth and shining: the antennae and legs dark rufo-fuscous, scarcely black; the basal joints of the flagellum, the articulations of the legs and the tarsi, pale rufo-testaceous, the claw-joint of the tarsi darkest. Thorax about the same length as the head, with a deep strangulation between the meso- and metathorax, the latter truncate behind. not spined. Abdomen ovate, truncate at the base, pointed at the apex, the nodes elevated and rounded above.

Queen

Smith (1858): Of the same colour as the worker, differing only in the sexual characteristics of length of thorax and abdomen.

Male

Smith (1858): Head and thorax opake black, the legs and abdomen shining; the clypeus, scutellum, and verge of the truncation of the metathorax, shining; wings colourless and iridescent, the costal nervure and stigma testaceous; abdomen oblong-ovate; the nodes of the petiole transverse, their upper margin subemarginate.

References

• Abdul-Rassoul, M.S., Ali, H.B. & Augul, R.SH. 2013. New Records of Unidentified Ants worker (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) stored in Iraqi Natural History Museum with key to Species. Adv. Biores., Vol 4 (2): 27-33.
• Arcos González, J. 2021. New records of the exotic black little ant Monomorium carbonarium in the Iberian Peninsula and discovery of the ergatoid queen (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Fragmenta Entomologica 53: 69-74 (doi:10.13133/2284-4880/432).
• Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Collingwood, C. A. 1985. Hymenoptera: Fam. Formicidae of Saudi Arabia. Fauna Saudi Arab. 7: 230-302 (page 270, Status as species)
• Dalla Torre, K. W. von. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 289 pp. (page 67, Variety/race of minutum)
• Emery, C. 1890c. Studii sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 22: 38-80 (page 48, Status as species)
• Emery, C. 1893e. Voyage de M. Ch. Alluaud aux îles Canaries. Formicides. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 62: 81-88 (page 82, Variety/race of minutum)
• Emery, C. 1908j. Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil V. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1908: 663-686 (page 681, Variety/race of minutum)
• Ettershank, G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171 (page 88, Status as species)
• Forel, A. 1899e. Formicidae. [part]. Biol. Cent.-Am. Hym. 3: 57-80 (page 78, Status as species)
• Guillem, R., Bensusan, K. 2022. Thee new exotic species of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) for Madeira, with comments on its myrmecofauna. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 91: 321–333 (doi:10.3897/jhr.91.81624).
• Lamelas-Lopez, L., Gabriel, R., Ros-Prieto, A., Borges, P. 2023. SLAM Project - Long Term Ecological Study of the Impacts of Climate Change in the natural forest of Azores: VI - Inventory of Arthropods of Azorean Urban Gardens. Biodiversity Data Journal 11, e98286

(doi:10.3897/bdj.11.e98286).

• Mayr, G. 1862. Myrmecologische Studien. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 12: 649-776 (page 753, (in text) Junior synonym of minutum)
• Roger, J. 1863b. Verzeichniss der Formiciden-Gattungen und Arten. Berl. Entomol. Z. 7(B Beilage: 1-65 (page 31, Combination in Monomorium)
• Rosas-Mejía, M., Guénard, B., Aguilar-Méndez, M. J., Ghilardi, A., Vásquez-Bolaños, M., Economo, E. P., Janda, M. 2021. Alien ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Mexico: the first database of records. Biological Invasions 23(6), 1669–1680 (doi:10.1007/s10530-020-02423-1).
• Santschi, F. 1933a. Voyage de MM. L. Chopard et A. Méquignon aux Açores. V. Fourmis. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 102: 21-22 (page 21, Status as species)
• Sharaf, M.R., Mohamed, A.A., Boudinot, B.E., Wetterer, J.K., Hita Garcia, F., Al Dhafer, H.M., Aldawood, A.S. 2021. Monomorium (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Arabian Peninsula with description of two new species, M. heggyi sp. n. and M. khalidi sp. n. PeerJ 9, e10726. (doi:10.7717/peerj.10726).
• Smith, F. 1858b. Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae. London: British Museum, 216 pp. (page 127, worker, queen, male described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Borowiec L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
• Emery, C.. "Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil V. Monomorium." Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1908 (1908): 663-686.
• Emery, C.. "Voyage de M. Ch. Alluaud aux îles Canaries. Formicides." Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 62 (1893): 81-88.
• Espadaler. 2010. Hymenoptera (Formicidae) in Chapter 11: List of Arthropods (Arthropoda), in Borges P.A.V. and V Vieira et al. (Eds.). 2010. A list of the terrestrial and marine biota from the Azores. Principia, Oeiras, 432 pp.
• Forel A. 1904. Dimorphisme du mâle chez les fourmis et quelques autres notices myrmécologiques. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 48: 421-425.
• Wetterer J. K., X. Espadaler, A. L. Wetterer, D. Aguin-Pombo, and A. M. Franquinho-Aguiar. 2006. Long-term impact of exotic ants on the native ants of Madeira. Ecological Entomology 31: 358-368.
• Wetterer J. K., X. Espadaler, A. L. Wetterer, D. Aguin-Pombo, and A. M. Franquinho-Aguiar. 2007. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Madeiran archipelago. Sociobiology 49: 265-297.
• Wetterer J. K., X. Espadaler, A. L. Wetterer, and S. G. M. Cabral. 2004. Native and exotic ants of the Azores (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 44: 1-20.
• Wetterer J. K., X. Espadaler, A.L. Wetterer, and S.G.M. Cabral. 2004. Native and exotic ants of the Azores (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 44: 1-20.
• Wetterer, James K., Wetterer, Andrea L., and Cabral, Susana G. M. 2004. Native and Exotic Ants of the Azores (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology. 44(1):1-20.
• Yarrow, I.H.H. 1967. On the Formicidae of the Azores. Blotim Do Museu Municipal Do Funchal. XXI(97):24-32.