Prionopelta antillana

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Prionopelta antillana
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Amblyoponinae
Tribe: Amblyoponini
Genus: Prionopelta
Species: P. antillana
Binomial name
Prionopelta antillana
Forel, 1909

Prionopelta antillana casent0006076 profile 1.jpg

Prionopelta antillana casent0006076 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Synonyms
At a Glance • Limited invasive  

Identification

In the eastern United States, the peculiarities of the mandibles, eyes, and petiolar attachment distinguish this species from all others. In the field it is easily mistaken for Solenopsis of the subgenus Diplorhoptrum, some of which are similar to P. antillana in size and pale coloration.

Distribution

Prionopelta antillana has been introduced into Florida from the Lesser Antilles or Central America. Pest status: none. First published Florida record: Smith 1967; earlier specimen: 1957. It is common in rotten wood in parts of Marion and Sumter Counties. It is clearly exotic, but its distribution is strangely different from those of the dozens of other tropical exotic ants of Florida: it is present in natural habitats in Ocala National Forest, but absent from warmer and more disturbed areas in south Florida. The simplest explanation is that this species was imported directly into the Ocala area, and has been spreading very slowly ever since. The first Florida specimen was collected in 1957 (Deyrup et al. 2000). It is even possible that it might have been brought from the Neotropics with potted plants imported for the filming of swimming sequences of Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan films, which were shot in the clear springs of the Ocala area. The general distribution is the Lesser Antilles and northern South America (Brown 1960). This is one of only two species of tropical exotic ants whose range in Florida does not include the tropical parts of the state. (Deyrup, Davis & Cover, 2000.)

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 23.133° to -23.846°.

   
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States.
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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

The biology of this species has not been studied, but the closely related species Prionopelta amabilis is either monodomous or polydomous, and feeds on small soil arthropods, especially Campodeidae (Holldobler and Wilson 1986) (Deyrup, Davis & Cover, 2000).

In Florida, where it has been introduced, it has been collected from soil in mesic hammocks around springs and in dense old stands of sand pine scrub. Litter samples from the sites where P. antillana was collected yielded many small japygids, but few campodeids. The male appears to be unknown, or at least undescribed. A recent collection (2004) near the Big Scrub Campground in Ocala National Forest, produced hundreds of specimens from a dense population under low evergreen scrub oaks. No males or morphologically differentiated queens were obtained.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Prionopelta antillana casent0102502 head 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0102502 profile 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0102502 dorsal 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0102502 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102502. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Prionopelta antillana casent0103911 head 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0103911 profile 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0103911 dorsal 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0103911 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0103911. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ABS, Lake Placid, FL, USA.
Prionopelta antillana casent0172305 head 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0172305 profile 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0172305 dorsal 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0172305 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0172305. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ANIC, Canberra, Australia.
Prionopelta antillana casent0173505 profile 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0173505 dorsal 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0173505. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ALWC, Alex L. Wild Collection.
Prionopelta antillana casent0102529 head 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0102529 dorsal 1.jpgPrionopelta antillana casent0102529 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102529. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMD, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Nomenclature

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

  • antillana. Prionopelta punctulata subsp. antillana Forel, 1909a: 239 (w.) ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES (St Vincent I.).
    • Type-material: lectotype worker (by designation of Ladino & Feitosa, 2020: 221), 2 paralectotype workers.
    • Type-locality: lectotype St Vincent & the Grenadines: St Vincent I. (H.H. Smith); paralectotypes with same data.
    • Type-depositories: ZMUC (lectotype); MCZC, ZMUC (paralectotypes).
    • [Note: syntypes from the original type-series (“Antilles: St Vincent (H.H. Smith)”) are probably also present in MHNG.]
    • Ladino & Feitosa, 2020: 222 (q.m.).
    • Subspecies of punctulata: Emery, 1911d: 33; Forel, 1912c: 36; Wheeler, W.M. 1922c: 2; Borgmeier, 1937b: 219.
    • Status as species: Brown, 1960a: 177, 218 (in key); Kempf, 1961b: 489; Smith, M.R. 1967: 346; Kempf, 1972a: 210; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1335; Deyrup, et al. 1989: 93; Bolton, 1995b: 365; Deyrup, et al. 2000: 294; Deyrup, 2003: 46; Wild, 2007b: 23; Arias-Penna, 2008a: 49; Branstetter & Sáenz, 2012: 253; Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 107; Feitosa, 2015c: 97; Deyrup, 2017: 14; Fernández, Delsinne & Arias-Penna, 2019: 507; Ladino & Feitosa, 2020: 221 (redescription).
    • Senior synonym of marthae: Ladino & Feitosa, 2020: 221.
    • Distribution: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Peru, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad, Suriname, U.S.A., Venezuela.
  • marthae. Prionopelta marthae Forel, 1909a: 240 (w.) VENEZUELA.
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
    • Type-locality: Venezuela: Zig Zag, between La Guaya and Caracas (A. Forel).
    • Type-depositories: BMNH, MHNG, NHMB.
    • Combination in Typhlomyrmex: Brown, 1953a: 104; Brown, 1957e: 229;
    • combination in Prionopelta: Brown, 1965c: 77.
    • Junior synonym of Typhlomyrmex rogenhoferi: Brown, 1953a: 104; Brown, 1957e: 229; Brown, 1960a: 216.
    • Status as species: Emery, 1911d: 33; Brown, 1965c: 77; Kempf, 1972a: 210; Bolton, 1995b: 365.
    • Junior synonym of antillana: Ladino & Feitosa, 2020: 221.

Taxonomic Notes

This genus includes some variable species, and Brown (1960) suggested that Prionopelta amabilis from Brazil might be a variant of P. antillana.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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  • CSIRO Collection
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