Brachymyrmex cordemoyi

Brachymyrmex cordemoyi has been introduced to regions beyond its native neotropical range. Despite occasionally being found indoors it is not a pest species. Nothing is known about its potential influence on other ant species and communities in areas where it has been introduced. Nests are primarily in soil and less commonly in plants and termite nests. It commonly forages on low vegetation.

Identification
As with all Brachymyrmex species, the presence of only nine antennal segments with a lack of a differentiated antennal club distinguishes workers of Brachymyrmex from other Formicinae genera (Bolton, 1994). This species resembles Brachymyrmex obscurior and Brachymyrmex patagonicus but differs from the former by having a denser pubescence on the gaster and from the latter by its larger head, more ommatidia along the maximal diameter of the eye and lighter-coloured pubescence. The latter feature is denser on the dorsum of the entire body and appressed on the gaster instead of decumbent in B. obscurior (Ortiz-Sepulveda et al., 2019; Hernandez-Teixidor et al., 2020).

Distribution
Brachymyrmex cordemoyi is native to the Neotropical region and has been introduced in parts of the Afrotropical, Australasian and Palaearctic regions (Guénard et al., 2017; Husemann & Ortiz-Sepulveda, 2019; Ortiz-Sepulveda et al., 2019). In the Canary Islands, only two populations have been detected, one on Tenerife and one on Gran Canaria (Hernandez-Teixidor et al., 2020).

Brachymyrmex cordemoyi is widespread and known from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, the USA, Venezuela, and it has been introduced in New Caledonia, Seychelles, Vanuatu, Solomon Island, Saudi Arabia (Sharaf et al., 2016), Europe, and Asia (Ortiz-Sepulveda et al., 2019).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Afrotropical Region: Comoros, Saudi Arabia, United Republic of Tanzania. Australasian Region: New Caledonia. Indo-Australian Region: Solomon Islands, Vanuatu. Malagasy Region: Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Seychelles. Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Lesser Antilles, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela.

Biology
Sharaf et al. (2016) discuss this species introduced to Saudi Arabia: This species was found nesting in soil at the base of a date palm tree (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in King Saud University campus, Riyadh. Specimens were collected by sifting the soil which was a mixture of sandy clay, with much decaying organic material. Workers were found about 8 cm deep in the soil. Other ant species collected with B. cordemoyi included: Solenopsis abdita (as Solenopsis saudiensis), Nylanderia jaegerskioeldi Tapinoma simrothi and Cardiocondyla mauritanica.

In its introduced range, it has been collected both indoors (Husemann & Ortiz-Sepulveda, 2019) and outdoors, nesting in soil (Sharaf, Salman, Aldhafer, Yousef, & Aldawood, 2016). There is not much information about its effects as an invasive species, but it seems they are mild (Jacquot et al., 2017). However, other species of this genus can act as urban pests, such as Brachymyrmex obscurior or Brachymyrmex patagonicus (Klotz, Mangold, Vail, Davis, & Patterson, 1995; MacGown, Hill, & Deyrup, 2007; Hernandez-Teixidor et al., 2020).

Nomenclature

 * . Brachymyrmex patagonicus var. cordemoyi Forel, 1895a: 49 (w.) REUNION I.
 * Emery, 1906c: 180 (q.m.).
 * Subspecies of patagonicus: Emery, 1895f: 337; Forel, 1908c: 399; Forel, 1912k: 165; Santschi, 1912e: 533; Bruch, 1915: 535; Luederwaldt, 1918: 48;.
 * Status as species: Emery, 1906c: 179; Forel, 1907g: 86; Forel, 1912i: 62; Bruch, 1914: 227; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 1036; Santschi, 1923b: 658; Wheeler, W.M. 1923c: 5; Emery, 1925b: 41; Borgmeier, 1927c: 141; Santschi, 1933e: 122; Donisthorpe, 1946e: 33; Donisthorpe, 1949e: 274; Kempf, 1972a: 38; Bolton, 1995b: 82; Dorow, 1996a: 84; Blard, et al. 2003: 129; Wild, 2007b: 27; Sharaf, Salman, et al. 2016b: 801 (redescription); Fernández & Ortiz-Sepúlveda, 2019: 728; Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483 (redescription).
 * Senior synonym of brevicornoeides: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483.
 * Senior synonym of brevicornis: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483.
 * Senior synonym of distincta: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 484.
 * Senior synonym of fuscula: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483.
 * Senior synonym of nigricans: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 484.
 * brevicornis. Brachymyrmex brevicornis Emery, 1906c: 180, figs. 38, 40, 41 (w.q.m.) ARGENTINA (Buenos Aires, Salta), PARAGUAY, BRAZIL (Rio Grande do Sul).
 * Status as species: Forel, 1913l: 245; Forel, 1914d: 287; Bruch, 1914: 227; Santschi, 1916e: 395; Santschi, 1923b: 661; Emery, 1925b: 41; Borgmeier, 1927c: 140; Santschi, 1933e: 122; Kempf, 1972a: 38; Bolton, 1995b: 82; Deyrup, et al. 2000: 301; Deyrup, 2003: 44; Quirán, 2005: 765 (redescription).
 * Junior synonym of cordemoyi: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483.
 * brevicornoeides. Brachymyrmex patagonicus var. brevicornoeides Forel, 1914d: 287 (w.q.m.) ARGENTINA (Buenos Aires).
 * Subspecies of patagonicus: Bruch, 1915: 535.
 * Status as species: Bolton, 1995b: 81.
 * Synonym of nigricans: Santschi, 1923b: 657; Kempf, 1972a: 40.
 * [Note: Santschi, and Kempf, give nigricans as senior synonym, but brevicornoeides has priority (Bolton, 1995b: 81).]
 * Junior synonym of cordemoyi: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483.
 * distincta. Brachymyrmex cordemoyi var. distincta Santschi, 1923b: 658, figs. 6, 50, 59 (w.q.) ARGENTINA (Santa Cruz, San Juan; “Delta del Paraná”).
 * Subspecies of cordemoyi: Emery, 1925b: 41; Kempf, 1972a: 38; Bolton, 1995b: 82.
 * Junior synonym of cordemoyi: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 484.
 * fuscula. Brachymyrmex levis var. fuscula Emery, 1906c: 178 (w.q.) ARGENTINA (Mendoza).
 * Subspecies of laevis: Bruch, 1914: 227; Santschi, 1916b: 512; Santschi, 1923b: 659; Emery, 1925b: 42; Kempf, 1972a: 40; Bolton, 1995b: 82.
 * Junior synonym of cordemoyi: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 483.
 * nigricans. Brachymyrmex cordemoyi var. nigricans Santschi, 1916e: 395.
 * [First available use of Brachymyrmex patagonicus st. cordemoyi var. nigricans Santschi, 1912e: 533 (w.) ARGENTINA (Buenos Aires); unavailable (infrasubspecific) name.]
 * As unavailable (infrasubspecific) name: Bruch, 1915: 535.
 * Status as species: Santschi, 1923b: 657; Emery, 1925b: 43; Santschi, 1931e: 281; Kempf, 1972a: 40.
 * Synonym of brevicornoeides: Santschi, 1923b: 657; Kempf, 1972a: 40.
 * [Note: Santschi, and Kempf, give nigricans as senior synonym, but brevicornoeides has priority (Bolton, 1995b: 81).]
 * Junior synonym of brevicornoeides: Bolton, 1995b: 82.
 * Junior synonym of cordemoyi: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 484.

Taxonomic Notes
Deyrup, Davis & Cover (2000) report a single collection of this species (as B. brevicornis) from Columbia County, Florida, in a mesic forested area. However, the identity of this species is problematical and the occurrence of this taxon in Florida needs to be confirmed.

Worker
(n = 20). HL1 0.39–0.62; HL2 0.27–0.41; HL3 0.10–0.16; HW 0.33–0.59; SL 0.27–0.53; EL 0.08–0.16; WL 0.37–0.60; PnL 0.10–0.20; PnW 0.23–0.39; ML 0.08–0.18; MW 0.16– 0.29; Indices CI 84.38–96.78; SI1 82.35–106.38; SI2 100.00– 142.86; OI1 23.33–34.69; OI2 20.00–29.63.

Head. Slightly longer than wide in full face view; posterior cephalic margin slightly concave. Dorsal hairs dense and appressed. Clypeus with a rounded anterior margin and five long, erect hairs of which a single, usually conspicuous hair is near the anterior margin, two hairs are in mediolateral position, and two more near the toruli; other hairs on the clypeus are markedly shorter and appressed or decumbent. Toruli surpassing the posterior clypeal margin in oblique anterodorsal view. Scapes reach the posterior cephalic margin or surpass it by a length up to the maximal diameter of the eye; they have appressed hairs. Three inconspicuous ocelli are usually present. Eyes are positioned on the cephalic midline and have 10–12 ommatidia along their maximal diameter.

Mesosoma. Typically with two erect hairs on the pronotum and two on the mesonotum; sometimes with additional suberect hairs, mainly on the pronotum. The mesonotum is not inflated and does not bulge dorsally above the pronotum in lateral view. Metanotal groove absent or narrower than the diameter of the metathoracic spiracles. Metathoracic spiracles in dorsolateral position, not protruding, and typically touching the mesometanotal and propodeal sutures. Dorsum of the propodeum slightly convex and shorter than the posterior slope. Propodeal spiracles circular, positioned on the posterior propodeal margin, slightly posterior of the middle of the propodeal slope. Legs with appressed hairs. Petiole short and inclined forward.

Gaster. With dense yellowish pubescence and several scattered and sub–erect hairs, mainly but not exclusively along the edges of the segments.

Color and sculpture. Body smooth, shiny, and brownish in color.

Type Material
Ortiz-Sepulveda et al. (2019) - [not examined]. REUNION. We refrain from designating a lectotype because we did not come across the type series of B. cordemoyi at the. However, we studied the original description and the type series of its varieties (i.e., distincta, nigricans).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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