Liometopum occidentale

Identification
Worker: This is a common bicolored species, having a dark brown head and gaster with a lighter colored mesosoma, usually golden yellow, but some may be light brown. The antennal scapes are short (1.02 mm) and surpass the posterior margin of the head by less than twice the maximum thickness of the scape. The scape has few short, decumbent hairs (no more than 20). The longest erect hairs are on the dorsal surface of the pronotum (0.26 mm in length). The mesosoma is convex with the highest point at the mesonotum.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Nearctic Region: United States. Neotropical Region: Mexico.

Nomenclature

 *  occidentale. Liometopum microcephalum var. occidentale Emery, 1895c: 330 (w.m.) U.S.A.
 * Wheeler, W.M. 1917a: 522 (q.).
 * Subspecies of apiculatum: Wheeler, W.M. 1905e: 324; Emery, 1913a: 20.
 * Status as species: Wheeler, W.M. 1917a: 521; Creighton, 1950a: 339; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1417; Allred, 1982: 486; Shattuck, 1994: 130; Bolton, 1995b: 247; Del Toro, et al. 2009: 330 (redescription).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Alatorre-Bracamontes, C.E. and M Vasquez-Bolanos. 2010. Lista comentada de las hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) del norte de México. Dugesiana 17(1):9-36
 * Allred D. M. 1982. Ants of Utah. The Great Basin Naturalist 42: 415-511.
 * Allred, D.M. 1982. The ants of Utah. Great Basin Naturalist 42:415-511.
 * Boulton A. M., Davies K. F. and Ward P. S. 2005. Species richness, abundance, and composition of ground-dwelling ants in northern California grasslands: role of plants, soil, and grazing. Environmental Entomology 34: 96-104
 * Chiotis M., L. S. Jermiin, and R. H. Crozier. 2000. A molecular framework for the phylogeny of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 17: 108-116.
 * Dattilo W. et al. 2019. MEXICO ANTS: incidence and abundance along the Nearctic-Neotropical interface. Ecology https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.2944
 * Del Toro I., J. A. Pacheco, W. P. MacKay. 2009. Revision of the ant genus Liometopum (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 53: 299-369.
 * Des Lauriers J., and D. Ikeda. 2017. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the San Gabriel Mountains of Southern California, USA with an annotated list. In: Reynolds R. E. (Ed.) Desert Studies Symposium. California State University Desert Studies Consortium, 342 pp. Pages 264-277.
 * Fisher B. L. 1997. A comparison of ant assemblages (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) on serpentine and non-serpentine soils in northern California. Insectes Sociaux 44: 23-33
 * Greenberg L., M. Martinez, A. Tilzer, K. Nelson, S. Koening, and R. Cummings. 2015. Comparison of different protocols for control of the Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Orange County, California, including a list of co-occurring ants. Southwestern Entomologist 40(2): 297-305.
 * Holway D.A. 1998. Effect of Argentine ant invasions on ground-dwelling arthropods in northern California riparian woodlands. Oecologia. 116: 252-258
 * Johnson R. Personnal Database. Accessed on February 5th 2014 at http://www.asu.edu/clas/sirgtools/resources.htm
 * Johnson, R.A. and P.S. Ward. 2002. Biogeography and endemism of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Baja California, Mexico: a first overview. Journal of Biogeography 29:10091026/
 * Longino, J.T. 2010. Personal Communication. Longino Collection Database
 * Mallis A. 1941. A list of the ants of California with notes on their habits and distribution. Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences 40: 61-100.
 * Matsuda T., G. Turschak, C. Brehme, C. Rochester, M. Mitrovich, and R. Fisher. 2011. Effects of Large-Scale Wildfires on Ground Foraging Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Southern California. Environmental Entomology 40(2): 204-216.
 * Navarrete-Heredia J. L., M. Vasquez-Bolano, and G. A. Quiroz-Rocha. 2007. New mexican distributional data on the Sceptobiini-Liometopum association (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae, Aleocharinae-Hymenoptera: Formicidae, Dolichoderinae). Sociobiology 49(3): 221-229.
 * Ratchford, J.S., S.E. Wittman, E.S. Jules, A.M. Ellison, N.J. Gotelli and N.J. Sanders. 2005. The effects of fire, local environment and time on ant assemblages in fens and forests. Diversity and Distributions 11:487-497.
 * Reddell J. R., and J. C. Cokendolpher. 2001. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from caves of Belize, Mexico, and California and Texas (U.S.A.) Texas. Texas Memorial Museum Speleological Monographs 5: 129-154.
 * Stahlschmidt Z. R., and D. Johnson. 2018. Moving targets: determinants of nutritional preferences and habitat use in an urban ant community. Urban Ecosystems 21: 1151–1158.
 * Vásquez-Bolaños M. 2011. Lista de especies de hormigas (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) para México. Dugesiana 18: 95-133
 * Ward P. S. 1987. Distribution of the introduced Argentine ant (Iridomyrmex humilis) in natural habitats of the lower Sacramento Valley and its effects on the indigenous ant fauna. Hilgardia 55: 1-16
 * Wheeler G. C. and Wheeler J. 1973. Ants of Deep Canyon. Riverside, Calif.: University of California, xiii + 162 pp
 * Wheeler W. M. 1905. The North American ants of the genus Liometopum. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 21: 321-333.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1917. The mountain ants of western North America. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 52: 457-569.