Mycetophylax nemei

Mycetophylax nemei
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Mycetophylax
Species:	M. nemei
Binomial name
	Mycetophylax nemei; (Kusnezov, 1957) Specimen Labels

The holotype, the only known worker, has presumably been lost.

Identification

See description below.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -36.366667° to -36.366667°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina (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.

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.

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.

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. ‎

Castes

Images from AntWeb


Paratype of Cyphomyrmex nemei. Male (alate). Specimen code casent0911148. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

nemei. Cyphomyrmex nemei Kusnezov, 1957b: 7 (w.q.m.) ARGENTINA.
- Combination in Mycetophylax: Sosa-Calvo et al., 2017: 9.
- See also: Kempf, 1964d: 39.

Description

Kempf (1964) - Since the only known worker of the present species has been collected separately and is to all appearances lost, I select the above diagnosed female as the lectotype. The differential characters for the worker have already been pointed out in the preceding description. The female differs from that of quebradae (previously synonymized with Mycetophylax olitor) in the following characters: frontal lobes not evenly rounded, but forming a blunt angle, converging cephalad in front of angle, straight and slightly impressed. Epinotal teeth extremely feeble. Tergum I of gaster with the deeply impressed sagittal furrow on anterior half, traversed by rugosities. The frontal carinae are as in the olitor types, and do not possess distinctive value. It is quite possible that Mycetophylax nemei will eventually end up as synonym of olitor, unless we find another way of dealing with the striking variability of the latter species.

Worker

Kempf (1964) - According to the original description, this caste resembles rather closely that of quebradae (= Mycetophylax olitor), differing principally in the lack of a pronotal tubercle, in the laterally immarginate and discally convex mesonotum that lacks the two pairs of tubercles, in the unarmed epinotum that has a very short basal face, in the postero-dorsal contours of the postpetiole, which is less sinuous.

It seems even closer to Mycetophylax lectus from which it is separated by the following differences: frontal lobes less expanded, not covering part of the eyes in full-face view; inferior pronotal spine not drawn out; mesonotum as described above; petiole nearly twice as broad as long with conspicuously convex sides; postpetiole more than twice as broad as long, similar to that of "quebradae"; pilosity on tergum of gaster curved and subappressed,

Queen

Kempf (1964) - (lectotype) Total length 3.5 mm; head length 0.80 mm; head width 0.69 mm; thorax length 1.04 mm; hind femur length 0.75 mm. Light ferruginous; front and vertex darker. Integument opaque; sharply and finely reticulate-punctate, with sparser and larger punctures all over body and appendages; dorsum of head, scutum and scutellum, dorsum of gaster with superimposed reticula of coarser and intertwined rugulae, predominantly longitudinal on front and vertex and on tergum I of gaster.

Head (fig 42). Mandibles with 9 teeth. Frontal lobes converging cephalad, lateral borders straight to feebly impressed. Occipital lobes slightly prominent and set off. Thorax (fig 40), midpronotal tubercle absent, lateral ones low but distinct and subconical. Scutellum bluntly bidentate behind, a shallow excision between the teeth. Epinotal teeth weak, basal face of epinotum scarcely distinct from declivous face. Femora carinate and narrowly crested on flexor face, hind femora forming ventrally an angle on basal third, with a low foliaceous crest projecting from posterior border of femora on angle. Fore wing as shown in Fig. 43. Pedicel shown in Figs. 40 and 41. Postpetiole unusually broad as in bruchi and "quebradae", with a middorsal longitudinal shallow impression, and postero-laterally more deeply impressed. Tergum I of gaster anteriorly marginate, anterior half with a broad and deeply impressed longitudinal furrow, which is traversed by a series of irregular rugulae. Pilosity rather fine, curved and subappressed, subdecumbent on gular face of head and sternum of gaster.

Male

Type Material

Kempf (1964) - 8 females and 107 males, taken in nuptial flight on February 17, 1953, in the subtropical forest of the valley Soco Hondo, Reserva Nacional Estancia El Rey, Salta Province, Argentina; a lone worker taken separately at the same locality. The types in the Miguel Lillo Museum are either mislaid or lost except for a slide containing 2 males and 2 females. 8 males and 1 female (lectotype) in my collection (WWK).

References

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 39, see also)
Kusnezov, N. 1957e. Nuevas especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Rev. Soc. Urug. Entomol. 2: 7-18 (page 7, worker, queen, male described)
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).