Neivamyrmex gibbatus

Neivamyrmex gibbatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dorylinae
Genus:	Neivamyrmex
Species:	N. gibbatus
Binomial name
Neivamyrmex gibbatus Borgmeier, 1953 Specimen Label

This species is only known from queens and/or workers and has yet to be associated with males.

Photo Gallery

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  Army ants are highly mobile and colonies sometimes cross paths. These encounters rarely escalate beyond the occasional scuffle. Instead, workers form a guard at trail intersections, facing each other one-to-one with their mandibles wide open, a sign of utter alertness. Eciton burchellii (left) vs. Neivamyrmex gibbatus. La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Photo by Daniel Kronauer.

Identification

Jack Longino: Mesonotum distinctly humped; antennal scape surpasses posterior margin of head.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 10.36666667° to -14.79861111°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica (type locality), Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Suriname, Venezuela.

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

Jack Longino: I have collected this species five times, always as nocturnal columns on the ground surface in wet forest habitats. The four Costa Rican collections are from sea level to 500m elevation; a Venezuelan collection was from 1100m. In one of the Costa Rican raiding columns there was ant prey: Tapinoma, Pheidole and Strumigenys smithii.

On the Barva transect in Costa Rica I saw a column that emerged from dense vegetation onto a trail, moved about 5m along the trail and across a log, and disappeared into dense vegetation on the other side. It was a dense swath of ants, perhaps 5-10cm wide, moving rapidly. I watched the continuously flowing column for several minutes, and it was obvious that the colony was very large. At times the trail seemed to scintillate, and when I looked closely I discovered that I was seeing the sparkle of light reflecting from the wings of hundreds of wasps in the Diapriidae. Lubomir Masner later identified these as a species of Acanthopria. Hundreds at a time were within my field of vision, running with the workers.

O'Donnell et al. (2020) report this species foraging only at night.

Association with Other Organisms

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

• This species is a host for the diapriid wasp Acanthopria sp. (a parasite) (www.diapriid.org) (potential host).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Xanionotum bruchi (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).
• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Xanionotum wasmanni (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0178603. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MIZA, Maracay, Venezuela.

Worker. Specimen code casent0179471. Photographer Erin Prado, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Images from AntWeb

Worker. Specimen code casent0178602. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MIZA, Maracay, Venezuela.

Worker. Specimen code casent0178603. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MIZA, Maracay, Venezuela.

Nomenclature

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

• gibbatus. Neivamyrmex gibbatus Borgmeier, 1953: 45, fig. 30 (w.q.) COSTA RICA, PANAMA (Barro Colorado I.), GUYANA.
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated), 1 syntype ergatoid queen.
  • Type-locality: Costa Rica: Santa Clara Prov., Hamburgfarm, nos. 5659, 5908 (F. Nevermann), same data but nos. 7, 167, 173, and 178, same data but 31.xii.1937, and 24.i.1938, syntype workers and queen Panama: Canal Zone, Barro Colorado I., i.1948, no. 224 (T.C. Scheirla), Barro Colorado I., 22.xi.1947, no. 131, and 2.xii.1947, no. 134, Guyana (“British Guiana”): Kartabo, 25.vii.1924, no. 1093 (S.C. Crawford), Kartabo, 25.vii.1924 (A.E. Emerson).
  • Type-depositories: MCZC, MZSP, USNM, coll. Schneirla.
  • Status as species: Borgmeier, 1955: 347 (redescription); Kempf, 1968b: 371; Kempf, 1972a: 154; Watkins, 1976: 11 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 289; Palacio, 1999: 155 (in key).
  • Distribution: Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama.

References

• 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).
• Borgmeier, T. 1953. Vorarbeiten zu einer Revision der neotropischen Wanderameisen. Stud. Entomol. 2: 1-51. (page 45, fig. 30 worker, queen described)
• Borgmeier, T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Stud. Entomol. 3: 1-720 (page 347, see also)
• Borowiec, M.L. 2019. Convergent evolution of the army ant syndrome and congruence in big-data phylogenetics. Systematic Biology 68, 642–656 (doi:10.1093/sysbio/syy088).
• 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).
• Liberti, J., Sapountzis, P., Hansen, L.H., Sørensen, S.J., Adams, R.M.M., Boomsma, J.J. 2015. Bacterial symbiont sharing in Megalomyrmex social parasites and their fungus-growing ant hosts. Molecular Ecology 24, 3151–3169 (doi:10.1111/MEC.13216).
• O'Donnell, S., Lattke, J., Powell, S., Kaspari, M. 2020. Diurnal and nocturnal foraging specialisation in Neotropical army ants. Ecological Entomology 46, 352–359 (doi:10.1111/een.12969).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Baccaro F. B., J. L. P. de Souza, E. Franklin. V. Lemes Landeiro, and W. E. Magnusson. 2012. Limited effects of dominant ants on assemblage species richness in three Amazon forests. Ecological Entomology 37: 1-12.
• Basset Y., L. Cizek, P. Cuenoud, R. K. Didham, F. Guilhaumon, O. Missa, V. Novotny, F. Odegaards, T. Roslin, J. Schmidl et al. 2012. Arthropod diversity in a tropical forest. Science 338(6113): 1481-1484.
• Borgmeier T. 1953. Vorarbeiten zu einer Revision der neotropischen Wanderameisen. Studia Entomologica 2: 1-51.
• Borgmeier T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Studia Entomologica 3: 1-720.
• Esteves F. A., C. R. F. Brandao, and L. P. Prado. 2011. The type specimens of Dorylomorph ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae: Aenictinae, Ecitoninae, Cerapachyinae, Leptanilloidinae) deposited in the Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia 51(22): 341-397.
• 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.
• Kempf W. W. 1968. Miscellaneous studies on Neotropical ants. IV. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Studia Entomologica 11: 369-415.
• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
• Lattke J. E., M. Kaspari, S. O’Donnell, and S. Powell. 2007. Las hormigas ecitoninas de Venezuela (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ecitoninae): elenco preliminar. Entomotropica Vol. 22(3): 153-170.