Euprenolepis

LaPolla (2009) - A groundbreaking study by Witte and Maschwitz (2008) showed that Euprenolepis procera are nomadic mushroomharvesters, a previously unknown lifestyle among ants. In fact, fungivory is rare among animals in general (Witte and Maschwitz, 2008), making its discovery in Euprenolepis all the more spectacular. Whether or not this lifestyle is common to all Euprenolepis is unknown at this time (it is known from at least one other species [V. Witte, pers. comm.])

Nomenclature

 *  EUPRENOLEPIS [Formicinae: Plagiolepidini]
 * Euprenolepis Emery, 1906b: 134 [as subgenus of Prenolepis]. Type-species: Prenolepis procera, by original designation.
 * Euprenolepis subgenus of Paratrechina: Emery, 1925b: 223.
 * Euprenolepis raised to genus and senior synonym of Chapmanella: Brown, 1953h: 6.
 * CHAPMANELLA [junior synonym of Euprenolepis]
 * Chapmanella Wheeler, W.M. 1930d: 41. Type-species: Chapmanella negrosensis, by original designation.
 * Chapmanella junior synonym of Euprenolepis: Brown, 1953h: 6.

Additional References

 * LaPolla, J. S. 2009. Taxonomic revision of the Southeast Asian ant genus Euprenolepis. Zootaxa. 2046:1-25.


 * Witte,V. & Maschwitz, U. (2008) Mushroom harvesting ants in the tropical rain forest. Naturwissenschaften, 95(11), 1049–54.