Mycetomoellerius iheringi

Mycetomoellerius iheringi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Mycetomoellerius
Species:	M. iheringi
Binomial name
Mycetomoellerius iheringi (Emery, 1888) Specimen Labels

Entry number 2007 in Goncalves’s notebook says “ninho subterraneo com olheiro fino na areia,” that is, subterranean nest in sand with slim opening.

Identification

A member of the iheringi species group. Mayhe-Nunes and Brandão (2005) - The exclusive character of M. iheringi is the finely striated discal area of the mandibles; however, Emery (1888) reported that some specimens lack such striation. This species falls within Mycetomoellerius kempfi into the same dichotomy in the identification key. Although both share very similar frontal lobes, M. iheringi first (anterior) pair of mesonotal projections are shorter, whereas the second (posterior) ones are longer (sometimes absent in M. kempfi). Two others striking differences are the lack of flexous pilosity and the shape of lobes of antennal scapes in M. iheringi (see discussion for M. kempfi).

Except by the coloration and size of the katepisternum projection we did not observe any other significant variation in the studied specimens.

Santos et al. (2025) provide a multi-entry interactive key based on the xper3 platform which contains 27 characters and, as terminals, 30 species of Mycetomoellerius, representing almost all described species except for Mycetomoellerius echinus, Mycetomoellerius gaigei and Mycetomoellerius guianensis, which are excluded due to lack of clear information or available specimens for study.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Trachymyrmex iheringi species group workers

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -16.256667° to -31.365°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Brazil (type locality).

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 Fungus Growing  For additional details see Fungus growing ants. A handful of ant species (approx. 275 out of the known 15,000 species) have developed the ability to cultivate fungus within their nests. In most species the fungus is used as the sole food source for the larvae and is an important resource for the adults as well. Additionally, in a limited number of cases, the fungus is used to construct part of the nest structure but is not as a food source. These fungus-feeding species are limited to North and South America, extending from the pine barrens of New Jersey, United States, in the north (Trachymyrmex septentrionalis) to the cold deserts in Argentina in the south (several species of Acromyrmex). Species that use fungi in nest construction are known from Europe and Africa (a few species in the genera Crematogaster, Lasius). The details of fungal cultivation are rich and complex. First, a wide variety of materials are used as substrate for fungus cultivating. The so-called lower genera include species that prefer dead vegetation, seeds, flowers, fruits, insect corpses, and feces, which are collected in the vicinity of their nests. The higher genera include non leaf-cutting species that collect mostly fallen leaflets, fruit, and flowers, as well as the leafcutters that collect fresh leaves from shrubs and trees. Second, while the majority of fungi that are farmed by fungus-feeding ants belong to the family Lepiotaceae, mostly the genera Leucoagaricus and Leucocoprinus, other fungi are also involved. Some species utilise fungi in the family Tricholomataceae while a few others cultivate yeast. The fungi used by the higher genera no longer produce spores. Their fungi produce nutritious and swollen hyphal tips (gongylidia) that grow in bundles called staphylae, to specifically feed the ants. Finally, colony size varies tremendously among these ants. Lower taxa mostly live in inconspicuous nests with 100–1000 individuals and relatively small fungus gardens. Higher taxa, in contrast, live in colonies made of 5–10 million ants that live and work within hundreds of interconnected fungus-bearing chambers in huge subterranean nests. Some colonies are so large, they can be seen from satellite photos, measuring up to 600 m3. Based on these habits, and taking phylogenetic information into consideration, these ants can be divided into six biologically distinct agricultural systems (with a list of genera involved in each category): Nest Construction A limited number of species that use fungi in the construction of their nests. some Crematogaster some Lasius Lower Agriculture Practiced by species in the majority of fungus-feeding genera, including those thought to retain more primitive features, which cultivate a wide range of fungal species in the tribe Leucocoprineae. some Apterostigma Cyatta (1 species) some Cyphomyrmex Kalathomyrmex (1 species) Mycocepurus (6 species) Myrmicocrypta (31 species) Mycetarotes (4 species) Mycetosoritis (2 species) Mycetophylax (21 species) Paramycetophylax (1 species) Xerolitor (1 species) Coral Fungus Agriculture Practiced by species in the Apterostigma pilosum species-group, which cultivate fungi within the Pterulaceae. some Apterostigma Yeast Agriculture Practiced by species within the Cyphomyrmex rimosus species-group, which cultivate a distinct clade of leucocoprineaceous fungi derived from the lower attine fungi. some Cyphomyrmex Generalized Higher Agriculture Practiced by species in several genera of non-leaf-cutting "higher attine" ants, which cultivate a distinct clade of leucocoprineaceous fungi separately derived from the lower attine fungi. Mycetomoellerius (33 species) Paratrachymyrmex (9 species) Sericomyrmex (11 species) Trachymyrmex (9 species) Leaf-Cutter Agriculture A subdivision of higher attine agriculture practiced by species within several ecologically dominant genera, which cultivate a single highly derived species of higher attine fungus. Acromyrmex (51 species) Amoimyrmex (3 species) Atta (20 species) Note that the farming habits of Mycetagroicus (4 species) are unknown. Also, while species of Pseudoatta (2 species) are closely related to the fungus-feeding genus Acromyrmex, they are social parasites, living in the nests of their hosts and are not actively involved in fungus growing. ‎

Phylogeny

Mycetomoellerius	Mycetomoellerius urichii Mycetomoellerius papulatus Mycetomoellerius papulatus Mycetomoellerius holmgreni Mycetomoellerius cirratus Mycetomoellerius kempfi Mycetomoellerius iheringi Mycetomoellerius sp. near cirratus
	Mycetomoellerius ruthae Mycetomoellerius jamaicensis Mycetomoellerius atlanticus Mycetomoellerius near haytianus Mycetomoellerius opulentus Mycetomoellerius dichrous Mycetomoellerius relictus Mycetomoellerius turrifex Mycetomoellerius zeteki

Based on Micolino et al., 2020 (selected species only).

Nomenclature

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

• iheringi. Atta (Acromyrmex) iheringi Emery, 1888c: 359 (w.q.m.) BRAZIL.
  • Combination in Atta (Trachymyrmex): Forel, 1893e: 601.
  • Combination in Acromyrmex (Trachymyrmex): Forel, 1914d: 282.
  • Combination in Trachymyrmex: Gallardo, 1916b: 242.
  • Combination in Mycetomoellerius: Solomon et al., 2019: 948.
  • [Name sometimes misspelled as jheringi, for example by Kempf, 1972a: 253.]
  • See also: Mayhé-Nunes & Brandão, 2005: 286.

Type Material

Mayhe-Nunes and Brandão (2005) - worker, female and male; Brazil. Rio Grande do Sul: Sao Lourenco.

Two syntype workers labeled “iheringi (type) XXI.V.d.3416 Rio Grande do Sul. Ihering col” in Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel; not examined Dietz personnal communication).

We have found in CECL a pin with one worker labeled as: Rio Gr. do SuI, v. Iheling, 2728, Em. det., Trachymyrmex iheringi Em. det. Borgmeier. Except by the collection number and the identification label, surely written by Borgmeier, the other informations match with Dietz’s annotations taken in the Basel Museum, where he found the syntypes of the species. Kempf (1972) cleared up one information absent in the label of type material: the type locality of the species is Sao Lourenco, at southern Rio Grande do Sul State. Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Mayhe-Nunes and Brandão (2005) - TL 3.5-4 .2; HL 1.05-1.09; HW 0.92-1.00; IFW 0.62-0.69; ScL 0.75-0.85; TrL 1.34- 1.54; HfL 1.15-1.25. Uniformly dark reddish brown to dark brown. Integument fine and shagreened, opaque. Body and appendages clothed with moderately long and oblique to decumbent hairs; mixed with strongly curved short hairs on some parts of occiput, alitrunk, postpetiole and gaster.

Head in full face view as long as broad (CI 100). Mandible fine and completely striate on its dorsal surface, which bears the apical and sub-apical teeth, and 5 regularly developed teeth. Frontal lobe subtriangular, moderately expanded laterad (FLI 65); anterior border concave; posterior border rather straight. Frontal carina diverging caudad, reaching the apex of scrobe. Front and vertex with weak longitudinal rugulae. Posterior third of antennal scrobe clearly delimited by the frontal carina and weakly marked by the extension of the preocular ones. Supraocular projection formed by a group of small tubercles. Occiptal corner rounded in full-face view, surmounted by some stout piligerous tubercles. Occiput slightly notched in the middle. Occipital tooth developed as a stout and tubercle-like projection, rather microtuberculated. Inferior occipital corner emarginated, not forming carina. Eye convex, no more than 12 facets in a row across the greatest diameter. Antennal scape slightly surpassing the occipital margin, when laid back over head as much as possible; basal lobe perpendicularly enlarged, its outer projection bigger than the internal ones, outwards directed when the scape is lodged in the scrobe; anterior surface surmounted by small tubercles and ridges.

Alitrunk. Pronotum with indistinct humeral angle; antero-inferior corner rather angulated; lateral spine long; median projections as a small bifid tubercle. First and second pair of mesonotal projections shorter than pronotal lateral ones, forming a blunt short ridge and teeth-like tubercle, respectively; third pair very small. Mesopleura covered with hairs; superior border of katepisternum vestigially armed with a small and blunt teeth-like projection. Alitrunk weakly constricted dorso-laterally at the shallowly impressed metanotal groove. Basal face of propodeum narrow, laterally delimited by a small dentate ridge; propodeal spines similar to lateral pronotal ones.

Waist and gaster. Petiole shortly pedunculated, the node proper as long as broad, with one pair of small teeth; subpetiolar process vestigial. Poslpetiole slightly broader than long, shallowly excavated above; postero-dorsal border convex; postero-lateral corners without projections. Gaster opaque with minute piligerous tubercles more or less distributed in four irregular longitudinal series on tergum I.

Karyotype

• See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

 Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• n = 10, 2n = 20, karyotype = 18M + 2SM (Brazil) (Micolino et al., 2020).

References

• Cardoso, D. C., Cristiano, M. P. 2021. Karyotype diversity, mode, and tempo of the chromosomal evolution of Attina (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini): Is there an upper limit to chromosome number? Insects 1212, 1084 (doi:10.3390/insects12121084).
• Emery, C. 1888c [1887]. Formiche della provincia di Rio Grande do Sûl nel Brasile, raccolte dal dott. Hermann von Ihering. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 19: 352-366 (page 359, worker, queen, male described)
• Forel, A. 1893h. Note sur les Attini. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 37: 586-607 (page 601, Combination in Atta (Trachymyrmex))
• Forel, A. 1914d. Formicides d'Afrique et d'Amérique nouveaux ou peu connus. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 50: 211-288 (page 282, Combination in Acromyrmex (Trachymyrmex))
• Gallardo, A. 1916c. Notas acerca de la hormiga Trachymyrmex pruinosus Emery. An. Mus. Nac. Hist. Nat. B. Aires 28: 241-252 (page 242, Combination in Trachymyrmex)
• Mayhé-Nunes, A. J. and Brandão, C. R. F. 2005. Revisionary studies on the attine ant genus Trachymyrmex Forel. Part 2: the Iheringi group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology. 45(2):271-305. (page 286, figs. 25-28 worker described)
• Micolino, R., Cristiano, M.P., Cardoso, D.C. 2020. Karyotype and putative chromosomal inversion suggested by integration of cytogenetic and molecular data of the fungus-farming ant Mycetomoellerius iheringi Emery, 1888. Comparative Cytogenetics 14(2): 197–210 (doi:10.3897/CompCytogen.v14i2.49846).
• Moura, M.N., Cardoso, D.C., Cristiano, M.P. 2020. The tight genome size of ants: diversity and evolution under ancestral state reconstruction and base composition. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlaa135 (doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlaa135).
• Santos, C.D.A.D., Chaul, J.C.M., Serrao, J.E. 2025. Taxonomic contributions to Mycetomoellerius Solomon et al., 2019 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae): description of two new species and a key for the genus. Zootaxa 5569(1), 93–118 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5569.1.3)
• Solomon, S.E., Rabeling, C., Sosa-Calvo, J., Lopes, C.T., Rodrigues, A., Vasconcelos, H.L., Bacci Jr, M., Mueller, U.G., Schultz, T.R. 2019. The molecular phylogenetics of Trachymyrmex Forel ants and their fungal cultivars provide insights into the origin and coevolutionary history of ‘higher-attine’ ant agriculture. Systematic Entomology 44: 939-956 (doi:10.1111/syen.12370).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Clemes Cardoso D., and J. H. Schoereder. 2014. Biotic and abiotic factors shaping ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) assemblages in Brazilian coastal sand dunes: the case of restinga in Santa Catarina. Florida Entomologist 97(4): 1443-1450.
• Clemes Cardoso D., and M. Passos Cristiano. 2010. Myrmecofauna of the Southern Catarinense Restinga sandy coastal plain: new records of species occurrence for the state of Santa Catarina and Brazil. Sociobiology 55(1b): 229-239.
• Correia Golias H., J. Lopes, J. H. C. Delabie, and F. de Azevedo. 2018. Diversity of ants in citrus orchards and in a forest fragment in Southern Brazil. EntomoBrasilis doi:10.12741/ebrasilis.v11i1.703
• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
• Rosa da Silva R. 1999. Formigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) do oeste de Santa Catarina: historico das coletas e lista atualizada das especies do Estado de Santa Catarina. Biotemas 12(2): 75-100.
• Santos-Junior L. C., J. M. Saraiva, R. Silvestre, and W. F. Antonialli-Junior. 2014. Evaluation of Insects that Exploit Temporary Protein Resources Emphasizing the Action of Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in a Neotropical Semi-deciduous Forest. Sociobiology 61(1): 43-51
• Silva F. H. O., J. H. C. Delabie, G. B. dos Santos, E. Meurer, and M. I. Marques. 2013. Mini-Winkler Extractor and Pitfall Trap as Complementary Methods to Sample Formicidae. Neotrop Entomol 42: 351–358.
• Ulyssea M. A., C. E. Cereto, F. B. Rosumek, R. R. Silva, and B. C. Lopes. 2011. Updated list of ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) recorded in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, with a discussion of research advances and priorities. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 55(4): 603–611.
• Ulyssea M.A., C. E. Cereto, F. B. Rosumek, R. R. Silva, and B. C. Lopes. 2011. Updated list of ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) recorded in Santa Catarina State, southern Brazil, with a discussion of research advances and priorities. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 55(4): 603-–611.
• Veiga-Ferreira S., G. Orsolon-Souza, and A. J. Mayhé-Nunes. 2010. Hymenoptera, Formicidae Latreille, 1809: new records for Atlantic Forest in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Check List 6(3): 442-444.