Mycetophylax faunulus

Mycetophylax faunulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Mycetophylax
Species:	M. faunulus
Binomial name
Mycetophylax faunulus (Wheeler, W.M., 1925) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Cyphomyrmex bigibbosus petiolatus Weber, 1938

Mycetophylax faunulus is a rainforest species with small colonies.

Distribution

This species ranges from Trinidad over the Guianas through the Amazon river valley to the Beni river valley in western Bolivia (Kempf 1964)..

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 4.67562° to -12.902437°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Bolivia, French Guiana, Guyana (type locality), Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago.

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 (31 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 (56 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. ‎

Kempf (1964) - Following is a brief digest of observations on faunulus by Wheeler (1925: 45) and Weber (1946: 124-126), and on "bigibbosus" (= faunulus!) by Weber (1945: 14-16; 1946: 122-124), made in British Guiana and Trinidad.

Mycetophylax faunulus is a rain-forest species. Its colonies are small, and the nests are usually found in rotted wood, but also in tangles of epiphytic roots, abandoned termite mounds and in the soil (clay stratum of an Atta mound!). The cavity size is variable, the volume varying approximately between 5-50 cc. The fungus garden is either sessile with lateral attachments to the wall, or pendant. The substrate consists of insect excrements, vegetable debris, seeds, woody fibers; it often includes parts of skeleton of ants (Ponerinae, Cephalotini), presumably used as framework. The bromatia are variable in aspect, their consistency transitional between those of Trachymyrmex and Cyphomyrmex rimosus.

In captivity, M. faunulus specimens rejected dry chemical food such as hemoglobin, blood fibrin, egg albumen, dextrin, gelatin, peptose, maltose, diastase, but accepted bromatia from C. rimosus gardens grown on farine. Workers also lapped up eagerly the body juices of a crushed mosquito. They feign death when disturbed. Among inquilines have been registered a small milliped and an attophilous thysanuran.

Nomenclature

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

• faunulus. Cyphomyrmex bigibbosus subsp. faunulus Wheeler, W.M. 1925a: 44 (w.q.) GUYANA.
  • Combination in Mycetophylax: Sosa-Calvo et al., 2017: 9.
  • Raised to species: Kempf, 1964d: 23.
  • Senior synonym of petiolatus: Kempf, 1972a: 92.
• petiolatus. Cyphomyrmex bigibbosus subsp. petiolatus Weber, 1938b: 187 (w.q.) BOLIVIA.
  • Junior synonym of faunulus: Kempf, 1964d: 23.
  • Revived from synonymy as subspecies of bigibbosus: Weber, 1966: 167.
  • Junior synonym of faunulus: Kempf, 1972a: 92.

Description

Kempf (1964) - The typical bigibbosus is identical with the race later described by Weber as tumulus. It remains here to decide the fate of the other forms hitherto recognized in the tightly knit complex:bigibbosus (of authors, not of Emery) , faunulus and peitiolatus, neatly differentiated in Weber's (1940:413) key. From the material which I was able to gather, I reached the conclusion that they are not separable, but constitute a single species, that takes the oldest available name viz. faunulus.

C. faunulus was thought to be a rather small race of what had wrongly been taken as the typical bigibbosus. The type series of the former is indeed on the lower range of the measurements for the species in the presently accepted sense, but this alone is not significant. The additional character given by Weber (1940:413), viz. length-width proportion of the postpetiole (faunulus and petiolatus with the postpetiole broader than long, bigibbosu with the postpetiole as long as broad), likewise does not seem to work. Moreover, petiolatus workers, as Weber (1938:188) himself confesses, " are unsatisfactorily separated from the typical form" (=bigibbosus), the scape character given in his key (1940:413) both contradicts the original description and a syntype specimen. The female of petiolatus, which unfortunately I did not see, is surely more distinct by its broader petiole and postpetiole. However, the evidence is not enough for recognizing a discrete form and I rather place petiolatus into synonymy of faunulus.

Worker

Kempf (1964) - Total length 3.4-4.0 mm; head length 0.80-0.98 mm; head width 0.75-0.85 mm; thorax length 1.01-1.20 mm; hind femur length 0.96-1.20 mm. Yellowish-brown to fuscous-ferruginous; opaque. Very close to bigibbosus with the following differences: 1. Color more uniform, and averaging larger in size. 2. Occipital corners auriculate and projecting. 3. Thorax: midpronotal tubercle low; anterior mesonotal tubercles very strong and conical, posterior tubercles low and feeble; antero-inferior corner of pronotum less acute; mesoepinotal constriction deeper. 4. Petiole slightly broader, anterior corners angular in dorsal view. Postpetiole deeper, the posterior border not excised mesially nor flanked by prominent tubercles (fig 31).

Queen

Kempf (1964) - Total length 4.2-4.8 mm; head length 0.96-1.07 mm; head width 0.83-0.93 mm; thorax length 1.25-1.41 mm; hind femur length 1.07-1.28 mm. Resembling the worker with the differences of the caste. Quite close to auritus, with the following distinctive features: Carinae flanking frontal area obsolete, carinae of vertex extremely weak. Sides of head lacking a subcarinate ridge connecting low supraocular tubercle with inferior occipital corner. Pronotum with low and blunt lateral tubercle, midpronotal tubercle obsolete. Scutum with only shallowly impressed Mayrian furrows. Paraptera postero-laterally strongly and acutely dentate, teeth facing caudad. Scutellar teeth longer than their width at base. Epinotal teeth minute to nearly obsolete. Postpetiole not strikingly transverse, middorsal longitudinal impression shallow. Tergum I of gaster lacking lateral and mesial paired longitudinal ridges. Appressed hairs minute and highly inconspicuous.

Type Material

Kempf (1964) - Workers and female of faunulus (MCZ) from Kartabo (type locality) and Camaria, British Guiana, and a worker of petiolatus (NAW) from Lower Rio Madidi, Bolivia, examined.

References

• Adams, R.M.M., Jones, T.H., Jeter, A.W. 2010. Male specific tyramids from three additional myrmicine genera. Biochemical Systematics and Ecology 38 454–456 (doi:10.1016j.bse.2010.03.008).
• 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).
• Franco, W., Ladino, N., Delabie, J.H.C., Dejean, A., Orivel, J., Fichaux, M., Groc, S., Leponce, M., Feitosa, R.M. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674, 509–543 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4674.5.2).
• Kempf, W. W. 1964d. A revision of the Neotropical fungus-growing ants of the genus Cyphomyrmex Mayr. Part I: Group of strigatus Mayr (Hym., Formicidae). Stud. Entomol. 7: 1-44 (page 23, Raised to species)
• Kempf, W. W. 1972b. Catálogo abreviado das formigas da regia~o Neotropical. Stud. Entomol. 15: 3-344 (page 92, Senior synonym of petiolatus)
• Prado, L.P., Silva, R.R., Brandão, C.R.F., Morini, M.S.C., Adams, R.M.M. 2021. A natural history account of Megalomyrmex ayri Brandão, 1990 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Insectes Sociaux (doi:10.1007/s00040-021-00840-6).
• Sosa-Calvo, J., JesÏovnik, A., Vasconcelos, H.L., Bacci, M. Jr., Schultz, T.R. 2017. Rediscovery of the enigmatic fungus-farming ant "Mycetosoritis" asper Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): Implications for taxonomy, phylogeny, and the evolution of agriculture in ants. PLoS ONE 12: e0176498 (DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0176498).
• Weber, N. A. 1938. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part IV. Additional new forms. Part V. The Attini of Bolivia. Rev. Entomol. (Rio de Janeiro). 9:154-206.
• Weber, N. A. 1940. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part VI. Key to Cyphomyrmex, new Attini and a new guest ant. Rev. Entomol. (Rio de Janeiro). 11:406-427.
• Weber, N. A. 1945. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part VIII. The Trinidad, B. W. I., species. Rev. Entomol. (Rio de Janeiro). 16:1-88.
• Weber, N. A. 1946. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part IX. The British Guiana species. Rev. Entomol. (Rio de Janeiro). 17:114-172.
• Wheeler, W. M. 1925a. Neotropical ants in the collections of the Royal Museum of Stockholm. Ark. Zool. 17A(8 8: 1-55 (page 44, worker, queen described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
• Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
• Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, M. Leponce, J. Orivel, R. Silvestre, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, and A. Dejean. 2013. Leaf-litter ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a pristine Guianese rainforest: stable functional structure versus high species turnover. Myrmecological News 19: 43-51.
• Kempf W. W. 1964. A revision of the Neotropical fungus-growing ants of the genus Cyphomyrmex Mayr. Part I: Group of strigatus Mayr (Hym., Formicidae). Studia Entomologica 7: 1-44.
• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
• Kusnezov N. 1953. La fauna mirmecológica de Bolivia. Folia Universitaria. Cochabamba 6: 211-229.
• Mayhe-Nunes A. J., and K. Jaffe. 1998. On the biogeography of attini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ecotropicos 11(1): 45-54.
• Solomon S. E., C. Rabeling, J. Sosa-Calvo, C. Lopes, A. Rodrigues, H. L. Vasconcelos, M. Bacci, U. G. Mueller, and T. R. Schultz. 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.
• Weber N. A. 1938. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part IV. Additional new forms. Part V. The Attini of Bolivia. Rev. Entomol. (Rio J.) 9: 154-206.
• Weber N. A. 1946. The biology of the fungus-growing ants. Part IX. The British Guiana species. Revista de Entomologia (Rio de Janeiro) 17: 114-172.
• Wheeler W. M. 1925. Neotropical ants in the collections of the Royal Museum of Stockholm. Arkiv för Zoologi 17A(8): 1-55.