Nylanderia parvula

Nests often occur in open areas, especially at forest edges and under stones (Trager, 1984). In the northeastern United States, they are particularly common in sandy substrates where small craters mark their nests, with much of their nest near the surface. Chambers have been found up to 30 cm below the surface (Trager, 1984). Reproductives are reared in mid summer in the north and late summer in the south, which then overwinter and fly the following spring (Trager, 1984) (Kallal & LaPolla, 2012).

Nylanderia parvula can be found in nearly every state in the eastern half the United States. They are among the most common ants in the sandy, moist pine barrens of the Northeast, the mixed deciduous forests of the Great Smoky Mountains, and sandy pine-oak dune woodlands of the Southeast. This species is found the furthest north of any Nylanderia species in the Nearctic, occurring into Ontario, Canada. An undescribed socially parasitic Nylanderia species (n. sp. 2) is known to parasitize N. parvula populations in Massachusetts (Cover et al., in prep) (Kallal & LaPolla, 2012).

Distribution
This taxon was described from U.S.A.

Nomenclature

 *  parvula. Prenolepis parvula Mayr, 1870b: 948 (w.q.m.) U.S.A. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1968: 211 (l.). Combination in Pr. (Nylanderia): Forel, 1922: 98; in Paratrechina (Nylanderia): Emery, 1925b: 222; in Nylanderia: LaPolla, Brady & Shattuck, 2010a: 127. Subspecies of vividula: Forel, 1885a: 348; Mayr, 1886d: 431. Revived status as species: Emery, 1893i: 636. See also: Trager, 1984b: 104.

Additional References

 * Kallal, R.J. & LaPolla, J.S. 2012. Monograph of Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the World, Part II: Nylanderia in the Nearctic. Zootaxa 3508, 1-64.