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Nylanderia contraria
| Nylanderia contraria | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Formicinae |
| Tribe: | Lasiini |
| Genus: | Nylanderia |
| Species: | N. contraria |
| Binomial name | |
| Nylanderia contraria Williams, Williams, LaPolla & Lucky, 2025 | |
Photo Gallery
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Identification
Antennae relatively short, with scapes surpassing posterior margin of head by about a third of their length; dark brown, with antennae, mandibles, leg joints, and tarsi yellow in contrast to body; meso- and metacoxae whitish, strongly contrasting with mesosoma; fine cuticular microsculpture resulting in moderate to strong blue iridescence on head and mesosoma; dense cephalic pubescence; posterior margin of head slightly to moderately emarginate.
While the overall habitus of N. contraria workers most strongly resembles that of Nylanderia austroccidua and Nylanderia polita workers, they are most readily distinguished from both of those species by the stark contrast in color between its whitish meso- and metacoxae and dark brown mesosoma. This species is more likely to be confused with N. austroccidua, as these two species have similar cuticular microsculpture that causes a similar amount of blue iridescence, which N. polita lacks entirely.
Compare with: Nylanderia austroccidua, Nylanderia polita.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
Nylanderia contraria can be found in moderate to high elevation forests in southern Mexico, and its known range is limited to the states of Oaxaca and Veracruz (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.
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Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 19.5° to 17.2°.
| 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. |
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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. |
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Biology
Castes
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- contraria. Nylanderia contraria Williams et al., 2025: 562, figs. 17-25 (w.q.m.) MEXICO (Oaxaca).
Type Material
- Holotype worker, MeXICO: Oaxaca, Cafetal Carlota, 18.04802 -96.69164 ±30m, elev. 1028m, 12.vi.2016, liquidambar/cloud forest, sifted litter, R.S. Anderson #RSA2016-136 (USNM: USNMENT01130973).
- 5 paratype workers, 3 paratype queens, and 2 paratype males with same locality data as holotype (USNM: USNMENT01131808, USNMENT01131970, USNMENT01131971, USNMENT01131974, USNMENT01131975, USNMENT01131977; MNCR: USNMENT01131972, USNMENT01131973, USNMENT01131976, USNMENT01131978).