Pseudomyrmex nigropilosus

Pseudomyrmex nigropilosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Pseudomyrmecinae
Genus:	Pseudomyrmex
Species:	P. nigropilosus
Binomial name
Pseudomyrmex nigropilosus (Emery, 1890) Specimen labels

An acacia nesting species, this ant is considered a parasite of the mutualism formed between acacias and other Pseudomyrmex species. Pseudomyrmex nigropilosus will use the hollow-thorn domatia and exploit the food produced by the plants, i.e, beltian bodies and nectar from extrafloral nectaries, but they are not effective at decreasing herbivores and do not remove encroaching vegetation.

At a Glance

• Ant-plant specialist

Identification

Ward (1993) - Among the Pseudomyrmex species recorded from swollen-thorn acacias, P. nigropilosus is easily identified by its elongate eyes and head (REL 0.55-0.59, CI 0.84-0.90), short petiole (PU 0.69-0.77), and conspicuous black pilosity.

Distribution

Western Mexico to Costa Rica.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 20° to 10.45554°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Costa Rica (type locality), Mexico.

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

Ward (1993) - Restricted to nesting in swollen-thorn acacias (including Acacia collinsii, A. cornigera and A. hindsii). It is a member of the P. gracilis group and therefore not closely related to the principal group of acacia-ants (P. ferrugineus group). Janzen (1975) points out that P. nigropilosus is essentially a parasite of the Pseudomyrmex/Acacia mutualism. It occupies abandoned or otherwise uninhabited plants and reaps the benefits of this association without protecting the acacia from herbivores or competing plants.

Nomenclature

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

• nigropilosus. Pseudomyrma nigropilosa Emery, 1890b: 62, pl. 5, fig. 24 (w.) COSTA RICA. [Also described as new by Emery, 1894k: 51.] Combination in Pseudomyrmex: Kempf, 1958f: 453. See also: Ward, 1993: 159.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Ward (1993) - With the traits of the P. gracilis group (see couplet 6 of key) and the following more specific features. Head longer than broad (CI 0.84-0.90); anterior margin of median clypeal lobe convex, conspicuously protruding; dorsolateral margination of pronotum usually blunt; mesonotum more steeply inclined than basal face of propodeum; petiole relatively robust (PU 0.69- 0.77) with a short anterior peduncle; head and mesosoma densely punctulate to coriarious-imbricate, and subopaque; standing pilosity conspicuous on most of the body including the outer faces of the tibiae, consisting largely of black hairs, those on the petiole and Propodeum long (> 0.20 mm) and curved. Color varying from concolorous orange-brown to bicolored orange and black to (western Mexico) predominantly black with orange mottling on the head, mesosoma, and appendages.

Type Material

Ward (1993) - Syntype workers, Liberia, Costa Rica (A. Alfaro) (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève) [Examined].

References

• Amador-Vargas, S. Plant killing by Neotropical acacia ants: ecology, decision-making, and head morphology. Biotropica. 8. doi:10.1111/btp.12695
• Emery, C. 1890b. Voyage de M. E. Simon au Venezuela (Décembre 1887 - Avril 1888). Formicides. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. (6)(10): 55-76 (page 62, pl. 5, fig. 24 worker described)
• Emery, C. 1894l. Estudios sobre las hormigas de Costa Rica. An. Mus. Nac. Costa Rica 1888- 1889: 45-64 (page 51, also described as new)
• Kempf, W. W. 1958f. Estudos sôbre Pseudomyrmex. II. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Stud. Entomol. (n.s.) 1: 433-462 (page 453, Combination in Pseudomyrmex)
• Ward, P. S. 1993. Systematic studies on Pseudomyrmex acacia-ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Pseudomyrmecinae). J. Hym. Res. 2: 117-168 (page 159, see also)
• Ward, P.S., Downie, D.A. 2005. The ant subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): phylogeny and evolution of big-eyed arboreal ants. Systematic Entomology 30:310-335 (doi:10.1111/j.1365-3113.2004.00281.x).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Bruch C. 1914. Catálogo sistemático de los formícidos argentinos. Revista del Museo de La Plata 19: 211-234.
• Calle Z., N. Henao-Gallego, C. Giraldo, and I. Armbrecht. 2013. A Comparison of Vegetation and Ground-dwelling Ants in Abandoned and Restored Gullies and Landslide Surfaces in the Western Colombian Andes. Restoration Ecology 21(6): 729-736.
• Cuezzo, F. 1998. Formicidae. Chapter 42 in Morrone J.J., and S. Coscaron (dirs) Biodiversidad de artropodos argentinos: una perspectiva biotaxonomica Ediciones Sur, La Plata. Pages 452-462.
• Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
• Dejean, A., S. Durou, I. Olmsted, R.R. Snelling and J. Orivel. 2003. Nest Site Selection by Ants in a Flooded Mexican Mangrove, with Special Reference to the Epiphytic Orchid Myrmecophila christinae. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19(3) :325-331
• Dejean, A., S. Durou, I. Olmsted, R.R. Snelling and J. Orivel. 2003. Nest Site Selection by Ants in a Flooded Mexican Mangrove, with Special Reference to the Epiphytic Orchid Myrmecophila christinae. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19(3):325-331
• Emery C. 1890. Studii sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 22: 38-8
• Emery C. 1891. Zur Biologie der Ameisen. Biologisches Centralblatt 11: 165-180.
• Fernández, F. and S. Sendoya. 2004. Lista de las hormigas neotropicales. Biota Colombiana Volume 5, Number 1.
• Forel A. 1912. Formicides néotropiques. Part IV. 3me sous-famille Myrmicinae Lep. (suite). Mémoires de la Société Entomologique de Belgique. 20: 1-32.
• Gallardo A. 1932. Las hormigas de la República Argentina. Subfamilia Mirmicinas, sección Promyrmicinae. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Buenos Aires 37: 37-87.
• Heil, M. 2013. Let the best one stay: screening of ant defenders by Acacia host plants functions independently of partner choice or host sanctions. Journal of Ecology 101: 684-688.
• INBio Collection (via Gbif)
• Kempf W. W. 1958. Estudos sôbre Pseudomyrmex. II. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Studia Entomologica (n.s.)1: 433-462.
• Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
• Smith M. A., W. Hallwachs, D. H. Janzen. 2014. Diversity and phylogenetic community structure of ants along a Costa Rican elevational gradient. Ecography 37(8): 720-731.
• Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
• Ward P. S., and D. A. Downie. 2005. The ant subfamily Pseudomyrmecinae: phylogeny and evolution of big-eyed arboreal ants. Systematic Entomology 30: 310-335.
• Ward, P.S. 1993. Systematic studies on Pseudomyrmex acacia-ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Journal of Hymenoptera Research 2(1):117-168
• Wheeler W. M. 1942. Studies of Neotropical ant-plants and their ants. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 90: 1-262.