Acromyrmex subterraneus

This species is parasitized by the inquiline Acromyrmex ameliae.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay.

Biology
Pikart et al. (2015) found in aggression experiments that Acromyrmex subterraneus workers were very aggressive to non-nestmate Acromyrmex subterraneus and workers of Acromyrmex subterraneus molestans, Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus and Acromyrmex niger. Interactions with winged queens of the social parasite Acromyrmex ameliae produced a slightly less aggressive response.

Foraging
Nickele et al. (2015) studied this species in Paraná, Brazil, both in the field and lab, to elucidate details of their leaf transport. Some of their findings: In Acromyrmex subterraneus cutting and carrying of fragments were clearly separated activities performed by distinct worker groups differing in body size. Cutters were larger than carriers. In addition, the behavior of foragers of differed significantly according to variation in trail distances. On short trails (1 m), cutters frequently transported the fragments directly to the nest, whereas on long trails (more than 10 m), most cutters transferred the fragments to other workers. Transport chains (fragments found on the trail or directly received from nestmates are transported consecutively by different carriers) happened more frequently when workers harvested plants far from the nest. These results demonstrate that Acromyrmex species display both division of labor between cutters and carriers, and task partitioning during leaf transport, with trail lengths showing marked effects on the likelihood of sequential transport. Furthermore, the results of this study provide support for the hypothesis that the behavioral response of transferring fragments in Acromyrmex species would have been selected for because of its positive effect on the information flow between workers.

Nomenclature

 *  subterraneus. Atta (Acromyrmex) subterranea Forel, 1893e: 593 (s.w.q.) BRAZIL. Forel, 1901d: 301 (m.). Subspecies of coronatus: Forel, 1901d: 301; Forel, 1911c: 291; Bruch, 1914: 216. Status as species: Emery, 1905c: 48; Forel, 1912e: 181; Luederwaldt, 1918: 39; Santschi, 1925a: 372; Gonçalves, 1961: 164. Senior synonym of mixtus, purensis: Gonçalves, 1961: 164. Current subspecies: nominal plus brunneus, molestans, ogloblini, peruvianus.
 * purensis. Atta (Acromyrmex) subterranea var. purensis Forel, 1912e: 181 (w.) BRAZIL. Combination in Acromyrmex: Emery, 1924d: 350. Junior synonym of subterraneus: Gonçalves, 1961: 164.
 * mixtus. Acromyrmex subterraneus var. mixtus Santschi, 1925a: 373 (w.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of subterraneus: Gonçalves, 1961: 164.