Nylanderia breviscapa

Nylanderia breviscapa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Lasiini
Genus:	Nylanderia
Species:	N. breviscapa
Binomial name
	Nylanderia breviscapa; Williams, Williams, LaPolla & Lucky, 2025

Photo Gallery

Williams et al. (2025), Figs. 8–10. Nylanderia breviscapa holotype worker (USNMENT01131317). Lateral, full-face, and dorsal view of the body.
Williams et al. (2025), Figs. 11–12. Nylanderia breviscapa paratype queen (USNMENT01131869). Full-face and lateral view of the body.
Williams et al. (2025), Figs. 13–16. Nylanderia breviscapa paratype male (USNMENT01131870). Full-face and lateral view of the body; ventral and dorsal view of the genital capsule.

Identification

Antennae relatively short, scapes surpassing posterior margin by less than a quarter of their length; light brown and sometimes bicolored with medium brown head and gaster; meso- and metacoxae about same color as mesosoma; microsculpture and blue iridescence subtle, most visible on head; dense cephalic pubescence.

Nylanderia breviscapa workers most closely resemble those of Nylanderia austroccidua but with a more compact overall appearance, relatively shorter scapes that barely surpass the posterior margin of the head, and meso- and metacoxae that are about the same color as the mesosoma.

Compare with: Nylanderia austroccidua

Keys including this Species

Key to Nylanderia clade AC1

Distribution

The known range of this species is limited to high elevation forests in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexico (Fig. 2B).

Williams et al. (2025), Fig. 2. Distributions of species: (A) N. austroccidua in the United States and northern Mexico, (B) species found across southern Mexico and Mesoamerica, and (C) N. docilis in South America. Maps were created using GPS coordinates listed in Table S1 and from the Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics (GABI; Guénard et al. 2017) database.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 17.2° to 15.7°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: Williams et al., 2025

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Mexico (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

Castes

Nomenclature

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

breviscapa. Nylanderia breviscapa Williams et al., 2025: 559, figs. 8-16 (w.q.m.) MEXICO (Chiapas).

Type Material

Holotype worker, MeXICO: Chiapas, 2km SE Custepec, 15.72197 -92.94163 ±100m, elev. 1850m, 17.v.2008, ridge oak forest, sifted litter, R.S. Anderson #RSA2008-010 (USNM: USNMENT01131317).
6 paratype workers, 1 paratype queen, and 4 paratype males with same locality data as holotype (USNM: USNMENT01130960, USNMENT01131318, USNMENT01131319, USNMENT01131868, USNMENT01131869, USNMENT01131870; MNCR: USNMENT01131320, USNMENT01131321, USNMENT01131322, USNMENT01131962, USNMENT01132155).

Description

References

Williams, J.L., Williams, J.F., LaPolla, J.S., Lucky, A. 2025. Nylanderia of the World, Part IV: Taxonomic contributions to the American Clade I of New World Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 5569(3), 549–593 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5569.3.10).