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


 * [[Media:Creighton 1945.pdf|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 PDF]]


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


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


 * [[Media:Creighton 1951.pdf|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 PDF]]


 * [[Media:Creighton 1952a.pdf|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 PDF]]


 * [[Media:Creighton 1952b.pdf|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 PDF]]


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


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


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


 * 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


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


 * 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


 * [[Media:Creighton 1966a.pdf|Creighton, W. S. 1966a ("1965"). The habits and distribution of Macromischa subditiva Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Cambridge) 72:282-286. [1966-05-10] PDF]]


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


 * [[Media:Creighton 1967.pdf|Creighton, W. S.1967. Studies on free colonies of Cryptocerus texanus Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Cambridge) 74:34-41. PDF]]


 * 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


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


 * [[Media:Creighton 1966b.pdf|Creighton, W. S. 1966b. The habits of Pheidole ridicula Wheeler with remarks on habit patterns in the genus Pheidole (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Cambridge) 73:1-7. [1966-08-31] PDF]]


 * 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