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Mystery Ants
What are the top ten mystery ants that myrmecologists would like to know more about? This page is a place to list those species that have left us with tantalizing clues that we need to know more. This page only has four mysteries at the moment...do you have others to add that can help this list reach 10?
- Aenictogiton - Only known from males, this African genus is undoubtedly a top ten ant mystery. Garcia, Wiesel and Fischer (2013) provide a good synopsis of the problem. "The biology of this enigmatic genus remains an almost complete mystery. Brown (1975) mentioned the possibility that these ants are subterranean or otherwise strongly cryptobiotic; we fully agree since no foraging worker nor any trace of a colony could ever be found. Phylogenetic and morphological affinities to the army ant genus Dorylus suggest an army-ant-like lifestyle, although there is no current evidence for this. However, most males were collected from light traps close to forest localities, indicating that Aenictogiton might prefer forested habitats."
- Asphinctopone - This genus, with three described species, is one of the most rarely collected and least known of the small ponerine genera in the Afrotropical region.
- Aulacopone relicta - Collected from forested areas of Azerbijan more than 80 years ago, this rare ant remains a phylogenetic and behavioral mystery. The holotype, a dealate female, has not been seen in over 50 years and is believed lost. A second dealate specimen is known but has been coated for SEM imaging.
- Martialis heureka - Manfred Verhaagh's discovery of two specimens of this species ended badly. They were lost before they could be described. It was clear this was an unusual ant, and Christian Rabeling struck myrmecological gold when he set out to rediscover this ant and succeeded in finding a lone worker. This holotype is the only known material of M. heureka. As the only species of a strange monotypic genus and subfamily, finding a colony of these ants and gaining insight into its biology could potentially change our understanding of how ants initially evolved.