Strumigenys rogeri

A tramp species that can be abundant in moist habitats.

Identification
See the description section below.

Distribution
This taxon was described from Antilles. It is also found in New Caledonia, Philippines, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Canada, United States, Cuba, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Burundi, Comoros, Seychelles, Réunion, Mayotte, Mauritius, Madagascar, Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Indonesia, Malaysia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Marshall Islands, Micronesia (Federated States of), Northern Mariana Islands and Borneo.



Biology
Brown (1954):

"I am fortunate also in having important notes on the biology of S. rogeri made by E. O. Wilson during his stay in Cuba in the summer of 1953.

Wilson took his observation colony at San Vicente, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, from a small nest under a rotten limb lying on well shaded ground. The galleries extended into the wood itself. Transferred to a small plaster observation nest, the workers readily captured numbers of entomobryoid collembolans proffered; campodeids up to four times the length of the ants were also always accepted and, like the entomobryoids, were fed to the larvae. Also observed to be chewed by the larvae after capture were a small psocopteran, a small ichneumonid wasp, and a small, injured embiopteran that had previously been ignored by a colony of Smithistruma nigrescens (= Strumigenys nigrescens) Wheeler. A symphylan and a pseudoscorpion, one each, were accepted and eaten by the larvae, but only after lengthy contact with the ants. Other specimens of these last two groups seem to have been refused by the larvae after capture on some occasions. A small polydesmid millipede was also captured, but soon rejected by larvae and workers. Consistently avoided or ignored when offered in the intimate confines of the observation nest were mites, nasute and other termites, small isopods, poduroid collembolans, adult staphylinid and sylvanid beetles of small size, a small campodeiform beetle larva, and dead mosquitoes, though the beetles mentioned disappeared from the nest and may possibly have been eaten.. Drosophila adults werc caught by the adults, but later discarded.

Entomobryoid collembolans seemed to be the usual and preferred prey fed to the larvae, although campodeids were never refused. In feeding habits, therefore, S. rogeri follows the generic habit of collembolan predation but, like some other widespread dacetine species, it will also accept a variety of other small arthropods, particularly campodeids, when available. In hunting, or when disturbed, the workers and females open the mandibles to slightly more than 180 degrees."

Florida (USA)
Deyrup (1997) reports this species is often the dominant dacetine ant in moist hammocks and swamp forest.

Clouse (1999) - Found Strumigenys rogeri to be common in wet areas of Everglades National Park and occurring in high densities along marshy trails on the Eastern Florida coast.

Deyrup et al. (2000) - This species is the common dacetine in bayheads, baygalls, and other swamp forest habitats in south and central Florida. Found as far north as northern Orange County. First published Florida record: Deyrup and Trager 1984; earlier specimens: 1965.

Puerto Rico
Wheeler (1908): Numerous workers and females taken from several colonies nesting under stones in a nearly dry stream bottom behind the Coamo baths. The rediscovery of the female of this species shows that Emery was right in his contention that Roger had described two very different species under the name of Pyrmaica gundlachi (=Strumigenys gundlachi). The females among my specimens agree perfectly with Roger's description and figure (Taf. I, .Fig. 18a).

Nomenclature

 *  rogeri. Strumigenys rogeri Emery, 1890b: 68, pl. 7, fig. 6 (w.) ANTILLES. Forel, 1893g: 378 (q.). Senior synonym of incisa: Donisthorpe, 1915d: 341; of sulfurea: Brown, 1954k: 20. See also: Bolton, 1983: 387; Bolton, 2000: 604.
 * incisa. Strumigenys incisa Godfrey, 1907: 102 (w.) GREAT BRITAIN. Junior synonym of rogeri: Donisthorpe, 1915d: 341.
 * sulfurea. Strumigenys sulfurea Santschi, 1915c: 261 (w.) GABON. Junior synonym of rogeri: Brown, 1954k: 20.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 2.3 - 2.8, HL 0.58 - 0 .74, HW 0.42 - 0.52, CI 69 - 75, ML 0.30 - 0.40, MI 51 - 58, SL 0.36 - 0.46, SI 82 - 89, PW 0.27 - 0.32, AL 0.56 - 0.68 (45 measured). Characters of rogeri-complex''. Mandibles relatively stout and more or less straight through most of their length; not obviously bowed outwards. On each mandible proximal preapical tooth stout and usually no longer than maximum width of mandible, usually slightly shorter. Distal preapical tooth shorter than proximal but nearly as stout. On right mandible distal preapical tooth slightly longer and thicker than on left mandible; not completely concealed by left apicodorsal tooth at full closure.

Type Material
Bolton (2000):

Holotype worker, ST THOMAS I. (West Indies) [examined].

Strumigenys incisa Godfrey, 1907: 102 [attributed to Forel]. Syntype workers, GREAT BRITAIN: Scotland, Edinburgh, hothouse in Royal Botanic Garden, 10.vi.1904 (R. Godfrey) [examined].

Strumigenys sulfurea Santschi, 1915: 261. Syntype workers, GABON: Samkita (F. Faure) [examined].

Additional References

 * Brown, W. L., Jr. 1954. The ant genus Strumigenys Fred. Smith in the Ethiopian and Malagasy regions. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 112:1-34.


 * Clouse, R. 1999: Leaf-litter inhabitants of a Brazilian pepper stand in Everglades National Park. Florida Entomologist 82: 388-403.


 * Deyrup, M. 1997. Dacetine ants of the Bahamas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bahamas J. Sci. 5:2-6.


 * Deyrup, M., Davis, L. and Cover, S. 2000: Exotic ants in Florida. Transactions of the American Entomological Society 126: 293-326.


 * Wetterer, J.K. 2012. Worldwide spread of Roger's dacetine ant, Strumigenys rogeri (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News 16:1-6.


 * Wheeler, W. M. 1908a. The ants of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 24: 117-158.