Strumigenys bunki

Specimens have been collected from a litter sample in a upland woodland and from a hickory nut. The type series was reported to be from (Brown 1950) "a small colony-series taken in a pine woods near Landon, Mississippi."

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the Strumigenys rostrata-group. In general appearance bunki is very similar to Strumigenys creightoni (see the species identification section of creightoni for more discussion of comparative features) of the pulchella-group, and the two have frequently been found confused in collections. The diastema is always long (distinctly longer than basal tooth length) in creightoni, and the basal row of teeth numbers 4; of these the second tooth from the base is longer than the third. In bunki the diastema is shorter than the length of the basal tooth and there are 5 principal teeth in the basal mandibular row, of which the third tooth from the base is the longest, distinctly longer than the second.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States.

Biology
Brown (1964) - A dealate female comes from Duval Co., 15 miles west of Jacksonville, Florida on March 28, 1927 (T. H. Hubbell leg.).

Nomenclature

 *  bunki. Smithistruma (Smithistruma) bunki Brown, 1950b: 41, pl. 3, figs. 2, 3 (w.) U.S.A. Brown, 1953g: 83 (q.). Combination in Pyramica: Bolton, 1999: 1673; in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 116. See also: Bolton, 2000: 125.

Worker
Bolton (2000) - TL 2.0-2.2, HL 0.54-0.59, HW 0.37-0.39, CI 64-69, ML 0.09-0.11, MI 16-20, SL 0.26-0.29, SI 70-76, PW 0.24-0.26, AL 0.50-0.55 (10 measured).

Mandibles at full closure with a small basal gap; diastema shorter than length of basal tooth. Anterior clypeal margin transverse or its median section extremely feebly concave. Eye with 3-4 ommatidia in the longest row. Clypeal dorsum with small appressed spatulate to spoon-shaped hairs that are much smaller than those that fringe the lateral margins. Cephalic dorsum behind clypeus with larger broadly spatulate to spoon-shaped ground-pilosity, but entirely lacking finer more erect specialised hairs. Dorsolateral margin of head with a row of anteriorly curved spoon-shaped hairs, without freely projecting specialised hairs anywhere along the margin, without an apicoscrobal hair. Pronotal humeral hair varying from recurved and elongate-spatulate to almost filiform (this variation can be noted in a single series). Dorsal alitrunk with curved spatulate to spoon-shaped ground-pilosity but without simple standing hairs. First gastral tergite with fine flexuous to flagellate hairs. Hind basitarsus usually without flagellate hairs projecting from the dorsal (outer) surface, but occasionally a specimen with 1-2 such hairs present.

Type Material
Bolton (2000) - Holotype worker and paratype workers, U.S.A.: Mississippi, Landon (A. C. Cole); paratype workers, U.S.A.: Georgia, Savannah, 16.i.1949 (H. T. Vanderford); Louisiana, Slidell, Bayou Liberty (W.L. Brown); Florida, Putnam Co., Welaka (A. Van Pelt) [examined].

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Annotated Ant Species List Ordway-Swisher Biological Station. Downloaded at http://ordway-swisher.ufl.edu/species/os-hymenoptera.htm on 5th Oct 2010.
 * Brown W. L. 1964. The ant genus Smithistruma: a first supplement to the world revision (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 89: 183-200.
 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1950. Preliminary descriptions of seven new species of the dacetine ant genus Smithistruma Brown. Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 76: 37-45.
 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1953. Revisionary studies in the ant tribe Dacetini. Am. Midl. Nat. 50: 1-137.
 * Dash S. T. and L. M. Hooper-Bui. 2008. Species diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Louisiana. Conservation Biology and Biodiversity. 101: 1056-1066
 * Deyrup M., C. Johnson, G. C. Wheeler, J. Wheeler. 1989. A preliminary list of the ants of Florida. Florida Entomologist 72: 91-101
 * Ipser R. M. 2004. Native and exotic ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Georgia: Ecological Relationships with implications for development of biologically-based management strategies. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, University of Georgia. 165 pages.
 * Johnson C. 1986. A north Florida ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insecta Mundi 1: 243-246
 * MacGown J. A. 2014. Ants of South Carolina http://mississippientomologicalmuseum.org.msstate.edu/Researchtaxapages/Formicidaepages/faunal.lists/South.Carolina.ant.species.htm (Accessed on April 26th 2014).
 * MacGown J. A., J. G. Hill, and M. Deyrup. 2009. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Little Ohoopee River Dunes, Emanuel County, Georgia. J. Entomol. Sci. 44(3): 193-197.
 * MacGown, J. 2011. Ants of South Carolina (species list).
 * MacGown, J.A., R.L. Brown and J.G. Hill. 2005. An Annotated List of the Pyramica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dacetini) of Mississippi. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Societ 78 (3):285-289
 * MacKay W. P. and Anderson R. S. 1993. New distributional records for the ant genus Smithistruma (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in southern United States. The Southwestern Naturalist 38: 388-389
 * Moser J. C. and M. S. Blum. 1960. The Formicidae of Louisiana. Insect Conditions in Louisiana 3: 48-50
 * Van Pelt A., and J. B. Gentry. 1985. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Savannah River Plant, South Carolina. Dept. Energy, Savannah River Ecology Lab., Aiken, SC., Report SRO-NERP-14, 56 p.