Lasius arizonicus

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Lasius arizonicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Lasiini
Genus: Lasius
Section: flavus clade
Species group: claviger
Species: L. arizonicus
Binomial name
Lasius arizonicus
Wheeler, W.M., 1917

Lasius arizonicus casent0102769 profile 1.jpg

Lasius arizonicus casent0102773 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Nests are found under stones, in areas with rocky loam.


At a Glance • Temporary parasite  

Identification

Similar in appearance to Lasius interjectus, but averaging and ranging smaller. Body pilosity very sparse and long; gula usually with no standing hairs, occasionally with 1 inconspicuous short hair, rarely with 2 or 3 standing hairs. Pubescence very dilute, especially on gaster; body surface highly glabrous. Worker Dorsum of propodeum convex, often strongly so. Crest of petiolar scale sharp to moderately sharp, weakly to strongly emarginate. Color, yellow to yellowish brown. Queen Crest of petiolar scale sharp to moderately sharp, weakly to strongly emarginate. Color reddish brown. Male Crest of petiolar scale sharp to very sharp; emarginate, straight or convex. Color, dark brown. (Wing 1968)

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico and northern Mexico.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 34.26694444° to 30.13333333°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Nearctic Region: United States (type locality).
Neotropical Region: Mexico.

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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Habitat

Hardwood forests, especially in riparian areas, pinyon-juniper forests, pine oak transition. (Mackay and Mackay 2002)

Abundance

Common in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.

Biology

Wing (1968) summarized the following natural history information and the alate dates given below. Almost no biological data have been published on Lasius arizonicus. Wheeler (1917) cited 3 localities in Cochise Co. from which the types were collected, giving an altitude of 5000 ft. for one collection. Data associated with the specimens at hand are meager. Four samples were taken under stones, 1 came from a "shaded canyon". Slightly over 20 samples had altitudinal data. With the one exception of a collection made at 2000 ft., they ranged from approximately 5000 to 8500 ft.

Reproduction

Alate dates Eight dated samples contained alates. The extreme dates are June 13 and August 8. On June 13, queens alone were captured on 2 occasions. Dealate queens were taken on July 6 and 8. It is likely that flights begin by mid-June. The collection on August 8 contained workers and males; it is probably a nest collection. Thus flights may still occur as late as early August.

This species is likely to be a temporary parasite, but its host is unknown.

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Lasius arizonicus casent0102773 head 1.jpgLasius arizonicus casent0102773 profile 1.jpgLasius arizonicus casent0102773 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102773. Photographer Jen Fogarty, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • arizonicus. Lasius (Acanthomyops) interjectus subsp. arizonicus Wheeler, W.M. 1917a: 532 (w.) U.S.A. Wing, 1968: 90 (q.m.). Combination in Acanthomyops: Creighton, 1950a: 431; in Lasius: Ward, 2005: 13. Raised to species: Buren, 1950: 184. See also: Wing, 1968: 90.

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

Description

Worker

Wing 1968 Acanthomyops figs. 68-76

Type Material

Wing (1968) - Type locality: Huachuca Mts., Cochise Co., Arizona. Syntypes in the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

References

  • Mackay, W. P. and E. Mackay. 2002. The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston, NY.
  • Creighton, W. S. 1950a. The ants of North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 104: 1-585 (page 431, Combination in Acanthomyops)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Cover S. P., and R. A. Johnson. 20011. Checklist of Arizona Ants. Downloaded on January 7th at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/AZants-2011%20updatev2.pdf
  • Eastlake Chew A. and Chew R. M. 1980. Body size as a determinant of small-scale distributions of ants in evergreen woodland southeastern Arizona. Insectes Sociaux 27: 189-202
  • Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
  • Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
  • Mackay W. P., and E. E. Mackay. 2002. The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 400 pp.
  • Michigan State University, The Albert J. Cook Arthropod Research Collection. Accessed on January 7th 2014 at http://www.arc.ent.msu.edu:8080/collection/index.jsp
  • O'Keefe S. T., J. L. Cook, T. Dudek, D. F. Wunneburger, M. D. Guzman, R. N. Coulson, and S. B. Vinson. 2000. The Distribution of Texas Ants. The Southwestern Entomologist 22: 1-92.
  • Pape R. B. 2016. The importance of ants in cave ecology, with new records and behavioral observations of ants in Arizona caves. International Journal of Speleology 45(3): 185-205.
  • Wheeler W. M. 1917. The mountain ants of western North America. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 52: 457-569.
  • Wing M. W. 1968. Taxonomic revision of the Nearctic genus Acanthomyops (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Memoirs of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station 405: 1-173.