Labidus coecus

A New World subterranean army ant with an extensive geographic range. The range of L. coecus appears to be essentially continuous, from Buenos Aires, Argentina in the south (~34.6°S) to Delaware County, Oklahoma in the north (~36.6°N). The three West Indian islands with L. coecus populations are all continental shelf islands that were connected to South America during periods of lower sea levels a few thousand years ago, so L. coecus populations on these islands have only recently become isolated. Labidus coecus commonly nests in caves, a microhabitat that may allow it to live in regions with otherwise inhospitable climates. Although recent papers listed L. coecus as an exotic species in North America, we found no evidence that L. coecus is exotic to any part of its known range. (Wetterer and Snelling 2015)

Identification
Jack Longino: Worker: color red; face smooth and shiny; mesosoma relatively compact, with dorsal face of propodeum shorter than posterior face; petiole with prominent anteroventral tooth.

Distribution
Wetterer and Snelling (2015) - L. coecus has been reported from 20 countries in Central and South America (all except Chile), three West Indian islands (Margarita, Trinidad, and Tobago), and four US states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas). The range of L. coecus appears to be essentially continuous, from Buenos Aires, Argentina in the south (~34.6°S) to Delaware County, Oklahoma in the north (~36.6°N).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Biology
Baudier et al. (2015) studied thermal tolerances of a variety of army ant workers. Labidus coecus was one of two army ant species sampled that are strictly subterranean, i.e. both bivouac and raid underground.

Jack Longino: This is one of the most remarkable of all army ant species. It has an extremely broad ecological tolerance. It occurs across a great latitudinal range, from the equator to the subtropics of both North and South America. It occurs in dry forest and wet forest, in primary forest and in second growth, in coffee farms and pastures, and in suburban yards. It occurs from sea level to high montane regions. The highest ant record I have for Costa Rica, a collection at 3000m near Villa Mills, is Labidus coecus.

The species is almost entirely subterranean, sometimes at considerable depth. On two occasions when residents living near La Selva Biological Station were having water wells dug at their residences they encountered L. coecus several meters down during excavations. When hand collecting, L. coecus is encountered under rocks and under leaf litter, and they are frequent in Winkler samples of sifted leaf litter. Perfecto (1992) observed a subterranean colony attacking a series of Dorymyrmex colonies in the open soil of a coffee farm. The Dorymyrmex had a dense population, with nests scattered over the farm, and the progress of the attacks could be followed by observing a sequence of nests from which the panicked Dorymyrmex workers were exploding to the surface.

Columns are occasionally seen on the surface. In Sirena station in Corcovado National Park, during my graduate student days, nocturnal L. coecus raids would occasionally swarm up through the cracks in the kitchen floor and forage on food scraps on the floor. I discovered this while carrying out my own nocturnal raids on the park's crackers and jelly, creeping in in the dark and hopping out with stinging feet. Twice I have seen columns emerging from the ground and attacking large scarab larvae writhing on the surface. Columns will also surface to cross hard-packed footpaths.

Labidus coecus is atypical of other New World army ants in its more generalized foraging habits. Although much of its diet is the brood of other ant species, they also scavenge dead food items, such as the scraps on the kitchen floor in Sirena. One morning in Monteverde I observed a massive raid emerging from the ground and attacking a plate of left over gallo pinto (rice and beans fried in oil) that had been left on a back step. It was curious and somewhat comical to see workers vigorously attacking oily rice grains with the same behaviors they use to attack other ants, biting and stinging individual grains and hauling them away (Fig. 1a,b).

In the study of army ants, most of the attention has focused on the large epigaeus species in the genus Eciton. But the highest density and most ecologically important army ants may turn out to be L. coecus. Kaspari and O'Donnell (2003) have estimated that every square meter of rainforest floor may be visited nearly daily by army ants, largely due to high densities of L. coecus found in sample plots of rainforest leaf litter.

Castes
Primarily wingless queen described in Weber 1941

Nomenclature

 *  coecus. Formica coeca Latreille, 1802c: 270, pl. 9, fig. 56 (s.) CENTRAL AMERICA. Roger, 1861a: 22 (w.); Emery, 1895c: 258 (m.); Bruch, 1934b: 116 (q.); Weber, 1941c: 325 (q.); Wheeler, G.C. 1943: 332 (l.). Combination in Labidus: Jurine, 1807: 282; in Nycteresia: Roger, 1861a: 22; in Eciton: Mayr, 1886b: 119; in Eciton (Labidus): Santschi, 1924b: 11; in Labidus: Borgmeier, 1955: 86. Senior synonym of vastator: Mayr, 1865: 78; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of jurinii: Mayr, 1886a: 33; Borgmeier, 1953: 15; of erratica: Mayr, 1886b: 119; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of latreillii, rubra, saji: Emery, 1895c: 258; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of atriceps: Emery, 1900a: 186; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of incerta: André, in Forel, 1899c: 160; Emery, 1900a: 186; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of fulvescens: Emery, 1910b: 22; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of pilosus, smithii: Santschi, 1913h: 35; Borgmeier, 1955: 86; of grassator: Borgmeier, 1923: 41; of panzeri, biloba, elsbethae, servillei, opacifrons: Borgmeier, 1953: 16, 16, 16, 17, 19, repectively; of nigrita, kulowi, selysi, serpentis: Borgmeier, 1955: 86; material of the unavailable name hostilis referred here by Borgmeier, 1953: 14. See also: Gallardo, 1920: 326; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1984: 272; Watkins, 1976: 8.
 * latreillii. Labidus latreillii Jurine, 1807: 283 (m.) SURINAM. Combination in Eciton: Dalla Torre, 1893: 4. Junior synonym of coecus: Emery, 1895c: 258; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * jurinii. Labidus jurinii Shuckard, 1840a: 198 (m.) GUYANA. Combination in Eciton: Dalla Torre, 1893: 4. Subspecies of coecus: Emery, 1910b: 22; Forel, 1912c: 43; Gallardo, 1920: 332. Junior synonym of coecus: Mayr, 1886a: 33; Borgmeier, 1953: 15; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * servillei. Labidus servillei Westwood, 1842: 75, pl. 20, fig. 2 (m.) BRAZIL. Combination in Eciton: Dalla Torre, 1893: 4. Subspecies of latreillii: Dalla Torre, 1893: 4; of coecus: Forel, 1912c: 43; Santschi, 1920d: 368. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1953: 17.
 * fulvescens. Mutilla (Labidus) fulvescens Blanchard, 1846, pl. 118, fig. 2 (m.) BRAZIL. Combination in Eciton: Dalla Torre, 1893: 2. Junior synonym of coecus: Emery, 1910b: 22; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * saji. Labidus saji Haldeman, 1852: 367, pl. 9, figs. 1-3 (m.) U.S.A. [Spelling emended to sayi by Roger, 1863b: 42, repeated by all later authors.] Combination in Eciton (Labidus): Mayr, 1886d: 440. Subspecies of servillei: Emery, 1890b: 39; of latreillii: Dalla Torre, 1893: 4. Junior synonym of coecus: Emery, 1895c: 258. Revived from synonymy as subspecies of coecus: Santschi, 1923g: 1261. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * atriceps. Labidus atriceps Smith, F. 1859b: 5 (m.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of coecus: Emery, 1900a: 186; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * panzeri. Labidus panzeri Smith, F, 1859b: 71, pl. 2, fig. 2 (m.) COLOMBIA. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1953: 16.
 * pilosus. Labidus pilosus Smith, F. 1859b: 7 (m.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of coecus: Santschi, 1913h: 35; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * erratica. Eciton erratica Smith, F. 1860c: 71 (w.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of coecus: Mayr, 1886b: 119; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * vastator. Eciton vastator Smith, F. 1860c: 71 (w.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of coecus: Mayr, 1865: 78; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * rubra. Myrmica rubra Buckley, 1867: 335 (w.) U.S.A. Junior synonym of coecus: Emery, 1895c: 258; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * incerta. Pseudodichthadia incerta André, 1885: 840, figs. 1-5 (q.) MEXICO. Junior synonym of coecus: André, in Forel, 1899c: 160; Emery, 1900a: 186; Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * smithii. Eciton smithii Dalla Torre, 1892: 89. [Unnecessary replacement name for Labidus pilosus Smith, F. 1859b: 7.] Junior synonym of coecus: Santschi, 1913h: 35.
 * biloba. Eciton coecum var. biloba Emery, 1901d: 51 (m.) ECUADOR. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1953: 16.
 * kulowi. Eciton coecum r. kulowi Forel, 1901h: 47 (m.) MEXICO. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * nigrita. Eciton nigrita Emery, 1901d: 52, fig. 5 (m.) GUATEMALA. Combination in E. (Labidus): Emery, 1910b: 23; in Labidus: Borgmeier, 1953: 6. Subspecies of praedator: Santschi, 1925b: 11; of coecus: Borgmeier, 1953: 6. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * selysi. Eciton selysi Forel, 1904d: 169 (w.) BRAZIL. Combination in Labidus: Borgmeier, 1953: 8. Subspecies of coecus: Forel, 1905b: 157; Santschi, 1923g: 1260. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1955: 86.
 * grassator. Eciton grassator Forel, 1911c: 288 (w.) BRAZIL. Subspecies of coecus: Forel, 1911d: 396 (footnote); Santschi, 1923g: 1260; Wheeler, W.M. 1925b: 2. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1923: 41.
 * opacifrons. Eciton (Labidus) coecum var. opacifrons Wheeler, W.M. 1921d: 310 (w.) BRAZIL. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1953: 19.
 * elsbethae. Eciton (Labidus) coecum var. elsbethae Forel, 1922: 91 (m.) COLOMBIA. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1953: 16.
 * serpentis. Eciton (Labidus) serpentis Weber, 1938a: 209 (w.) GUYANA. Junior synonym of coecus: Borgmeier, 1955: 86.

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