Ants of Cuba

This is the beginning of a page of information about the Ants of Cuba.

Checklist of Cuba ant species

Notes from Publications
Wheeler (1937) published a paper describing ants collected by Darlington in 1936.

"While studying the distribution of the Coleoptera in the mountains of Cuba during the summer of 1936, Dr. P. J. Darlington generously collected for me such Formicidae as he encountered. The highlands to which for the most part he confined his explorations are the Trinidad Range of Santa Clara Province in Central Cuba and the Sierra Maestra, Sierra del Cobre, Gran Piedra Range, Sierra de Purial, north of Imias and the Yunque de Baracoa, in the Province of Santiago de Cuba (Oriente), at the eastern end of the island. The collection is noteworthy, first, for the number of forms (9 species, 8 subspecies, 3 varieties) which he has added to the known Cuban fauna and especially for the fine series of Macromischa, of which he collected, mainly by beating foliage, no less than 13 forms, of which 10 are new to science, and second, for his discovery of a new Cylindromyrmex. This remarkable genus and the subfamily Cerapachyinae to which it belongs were not previously known to have representatives in the Antilles. This is an outstanding achievement, considering the intense interest of collectors in the beautiful ants of the genus Macromischa and the number of species of this genus already described from Cuba.

Dr. Darlington's collection emphasizes the very local distribution of these ants in Cuba and suggests that the careful collector, especially in the many' unexplored recesses of the mountains of Oriente, may succeed in bringing to light other members of this exquisite genus."