Mycocepurus smithii

Distribution
This taxon was described from Antilles. It is also found in Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Argentina, Suriname, Paraguay, French Guiana, Guyana, Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Haiti
From Wheeler and Mann (1914): Several workers....were taken at Cape Haitien and Diquini. The nests in the latter locality were in the form of small craters and were located in clay soil in a moist spot in a gully formed by a small stream. Several colonies were nesting in an area about 25 ft. square, but in no other place in the neighborhood. At Cape Haitien only a single colony was found and this was nesting in a road leading across the mountains and nearly at the summit.

Nomenclature

 *  smithii. Atta (Mycocepurus) smithii Forel, 1893g: 370 (w.) ANTILLES. Kempf, 1963b: 425 (q.). Combination in Mycocepurus: Wheeler, W.M. & Mann, 1914: 42. Senior synonym of attaxenus, bolivianus, borinquenensis, eucarnitae, manni, reconditus, tolteca, trinidadensis: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * borinquenensis. Atta (Mycocepurus) smithi var. borinquenensis Wheeler, W.M. 1907c: 718 (w.) PUERTO RICO. Combination in Mycocepurus: Emery, 1924d: 335. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * tolteca. Atta (Mycocepurus) smithi var. tolteca Wheeler, W.M. 1907c: 718 (w.) MEXICO. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * eucarnitae. Mycocepurus smithii var. eucarnitae Forel, 1913l: 235 (w.) CUBA. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * attaxenus. Trachymyrmex attaxenus Menozzi, 1936b: 85 (w.q.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * reconditus. Mycocepurus reconditus Borgmeier, 1937b: 246, figs. 34-36 (w.q.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * trinidadensis. Mycocepurus smithi var. trinidadensis Weber, 1937: 378, fig. 1 (w.q.) TRINIDAD. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * bolivianus. Mycocepurus bolivianus Weber, 1938b: 155, fig. 8 (w.) BOLIVIA. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.
 * manni. Mycocepurus manni Weber, 1938b: 156, figs. 1, 2 (q.) BOLIVIA. Junior synonym of smithii: Kempf, 1963b: 425.

Additional References

 * Rabeling, C., Verhaagh, M. & Engels, W. 2007. Comparative study of nest architecture and colony structure of the fungus-growing ants, Mycocepurus goeldii and M. smithii. Journal of Insect Science 7, Article 40.
 * [[Media:Rabeling.pdf|Rabeling, C., Omar Gonzales, Ted R. Schultz, Maurício Bacci, Jr., Marcos V. B. Garcia, Manfred Verhaaghe, Heather D. Ishaka, and Ulrich G. Mueller 2011. Cryptic sexual populations account for genetic diversity and ecological success in a widely distributed, asexual fungus-growing ant. PNAS www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1105467108/-/DCSupplemental. PDF]]
 * Wheeler, W. M. and W. M. Mann. 1914. The ants of Haiti. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 33: 1-61.