Creighton, William Steel (1902-1973)

ANT TAXONOMY
As a student of William Wheeler at the Bussey Institute at Harvard, Creighton inherited the problem of an unwieldy system that made the field of ant systematics practically unusable. Although Creighton had access to a huge museum collection at Harvard, he came to see that field work provided more accurate classification of subspecies based on Ernst Mayr’s definitions. He challenged the system of his mentor, Wheeler, who had based his classifications on form, structure and behavior. In turn, his own protégés and younger colleagues, William Brown and E. O. Wilson, challenged his classifications and denied the reality of the subspecies that Creighton defined. Creighton, however, using field work as the bedrock of his classification system, eventually prevailed over those who based their system on museum types.

TAXONOMIC PUBLICATIONS

 * Creighton, W. S. 1927. The slave-raids of Harpagoxenus americanus. Psyche (Camb.) 34: 11-29


 * Creighton, W. S. 1928b. A new species of Thaumatomyrmex from Cuba. Psyche (Camb.) 35: 162-166


 * Creighton, W. S. 1929. New forms of Odontoponera transversa. Psyche (Camb.) 36: 150-154


 * Creighton, W. S. 1930a. A review of the genus Myrmoteras (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 38: 177-192


 * Creighton, W. S. 1930b. The New World species of the genus Solenopsis (Hymenop. Formicidae). Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci. 66: 39-151


 * Creighton, W. S. 1932. A new female of Acamatus from Texas. Psyche (Camb.) 39: 73-78


 * Creighton, W. S. 1933. Cyathomyrmex, a new name for the subgenus Cyathocephalus Emery. Psyche (Camb.) 40: 98-100


 * Creighton, W. S. 1934. Descriptions of three new North American ants with certain ecological observations on previously described forms. Psyche (Camb.) 41: 185-200


 * Creighton, W. S. 1935. Two new species of Formica from western United States. Am. Mus. Novit. 773: 1-8


 * Creighton, W. S. 1939a. A generic reallocation for Myrmoteras kuroiwae. J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 47: 39-40


 * Creighton, W. S. 1939b. A new subspecies of Crematogaster minutissima with revisionary notes concerning that species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 46: 137-140


 * Creighton, W. S. 1940a. A revision of the North American variants of the ant Formica rufa. Am. Mus. Novit. 1055: 1-10


 * Creighton, W. S. 1940b. A revision of the forms of Stigmatomma pallipes. Am. Mus. Novit. 1079: 1-8


 * Creighton, W. S. 1945. Observations on the subgenus Rhachiocrema (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with the description of a new species from Borneo. Psyche (Camb.) 52: 109-118


 * Creighton, W. S. 1950a. The ants of North America. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 104: 1-585


 * Creighton, W. S. 1950b. Polyhomoa Azuma, a synonym of Kyidris Brown (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 57: 93-94


 * Creighton, W. S. 1951. Studies on Arizona ants. 1. The habits of Camponotus ulcerosus Wheeler and its identity with C. bruesi Wheeler. Psyche (Camb.) 58: 47-64


 * Creighton, W. S. 1952a [1951]. Studies on Arizona ants. 2. New data on the ecology of Aphaenogaster huachucana and a description of the sexual forms. Psyche (Camb.) 58: 89-99


 * Creighton, W. S. 1952b. Studies on Arizona ants (3). The habits of Pogonomyrmex huachucanus Wheeler and a description of the sexual castes. Psyche (Camb.) 59: 71-81


 * Creighton, W. S. 1953a. New data on the habits of the ants of the genus Veromessor. Am. Mus. Novit. 1612: 1-18


 * Creighton, W. S. 1953b [1952]. Pseudomyrmex apache, a new species from the southwestern United States (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 59: 131-142


 * Creighton, W. S. 1953c [1952]. Studies on Arizona ants (4). Camponotus (Colobopsis) papago, a new species from southern Arizona. Psyche (Camb.) 59: 148-162


 * Creighton, W. S. 1953e. A new subspecies of Xenomyrmex stolli from northeastern Mexico (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 1634: 1-5


 * Creighton, W. S. 1953f. The rediscovery of Leptothorax silvestrii (Santschi) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 1635: 1-7


 * Creighton, W. S. 1956. Notes on Myrmecocystus lugubris Wheeler and its synonym, Myrmecocystus yuma Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 1807: 1-4


 * Creighton, W. S. 1957a [1956]. Studies on the North American representatives of Ephebomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 63: 54-66


 * Creighton, W. S. 1957b [1955]. Observations on Pseudomyrmex elongata Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 63: 17-20


 * Creighton, W. S. 1957c. A study of the genus Xenomyrmex (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 1843: 1-14


 * Creighton, W. S. 1958 [1957]. A revisionary study of Pheidole vasliti Pergande (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 65: 203-212


 * Creighton, W. S. 1965b. Studies on southwestern ants belonging to Camponotus, subgenus Myrmobrachys (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Am. Mus. Novit. 2239: 1-9


 * Creighton, W. S.; Crandall, R. H. 1954. New data on the habits of Myrmecocystus melliger Forel. Biol. Rev. (City Coll. N. Y.) 16: 2-6


 * Creighton, W. S.; Gregg, R. E. 1954. Studies on the habits and distribution of Cryptocerus texanus Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 61: 41-57


 * Creighton, W. S.; Gregg, R. E. 1955. New and little-known species of Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Univ. Colo. Stud. Ser. Biol. 3: 1-46


 * Creighton, W. S.; Snelling, R. R. 1967 [1966]. The rediscovery of Camponotus (Myrmaphaenus) yogi Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 73: 187-195


 * Creighton, W. S.; Tulloch, G. S. 1930. Notes on Euponera gilva (Roger) (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 37: 71-79


 * Wheeler, W. M.; Creighton, W. S. 1934. A study of the ant genera Novomessor and Veromessor. Proc. Am. Acad. Arts Sci. 69: 341-387