THE NORTH AMERICA ACROBAT ANTS OF THE HYPERDIVERSE GENUS CREMATOGASTER ...

532 Pages·2017·13.18 MB·English

THE NORTH AMERICA ACROBAT ANTS OF THE
HYPERDIVERSE GENUS CREMATOGASTER
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)

Cynthia E. Morgan
and
William Mackay

Department of Biological Sciences,
Biodiversity Collections, The University of Texas,
El Paso, Texas 99968 USA
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................... 3
PREFACE ....................................................................................... 6
DEDICATION ............................................................................... 7
ABSTRACT ................................................................................... 9
RESUMEN ................................................................................... 11
Introduction .................................................................................. 13
Methods and Materials ................................................................. 17
Key to the workers of Crematogaster in North America ............ 24
Clave para las obreras de Crematogaster en América del Norte . 50
Crematogaster acuta (Fabricius) ................................................. 62
Crematogaster ashmeadi Mayr .................................................... 71
Crematogaster atra Mayr ............................................................. 85
Crematogaster cerasi (Fitch) ....................................................... 91
Crematogaster coarctata Mayr .................................................. 105
Crematogaster corvina Mayr ..................................................... 119
Crematogaster crinosa Mayr ..................................................... 124
Crematogaster curvispinosa Mayr ............................................. 136
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Crematogaster dentinodis Forel ................................................. 147
Crematogaster depilis Wheeler .................................................. 155
Crematogaster distans Mayr ...................................................... 166
Crematogaster emeryana Creighton .......................................... 171
Crematogaster formosa Mayr .................................................... 181
Crematogaster isolata Buren ..................................................... 186
Crematogaster laeviuscula Mayr ............................................... 196
Crematogaster limata Smith ...................................................... 212
Crematogaster lineolata (Say) ................................................... 221
Crematogaster minutissima Mayr .............................................. 238
Crematogaster missouriensis Emery ......................................... 247
Crematogaster montezumia Smith ............................................. 257
Crematogaster mutans Buren ..................................................... 264
Crematogaster navajoa Buren ................................................... 272
Crematogaster nigropilosa Mayr ............................................... 280
Crematogaster nocturna Buren .................................................. 289
Crematogaster obscurata Emery ............................................... 294
Crematogaster opaca Mayr........................................................ 302
Crematogaster patei Buren ........................................................ 312
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Crematogaster pilosa Emery...................................................... 317
Crematogaster pinicola Deyrup & Cover .................................. 328
Crematogaster punctulata Emery .............................................. 330
Crematogaster quadrispinosa Roger ......................................... 343
Crematogaster rifelna Buren ..................................................... 344
Crematogaster rochai Forel ....................................................... 351
Crematogaster saussurei Forel .................................................. 359
Crematogaster sotobosque Longino .......................................... 367
Crematogaster sumichrasti Mayr ............................................... 374
Crematogaster torosa Mayr ....................................................... 385
Crematogaster vermiculata Emery ............................................ 396
Conclusion .................................................................................. 410
Acknowledgements .................................................................... 412
Literature Cited ........................................................................... 414
Index ........................................................................................... 492
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PREFACE
Ants in the genus Crematogaster have always fascinated us as
when disturbed, workers raise their gasters (≈ abdomens, excluding
propodeum and waist) and exude a drop of poison, making them
appear as tiny acrobats. They are increasingly becoming subjects of
intensive study due to the habits of some species in living in
specialized “ant plants” or living with other ant species, often genera
known for their aggressive natures, such as carpenter and ponerine
ants.
Identification has been difficult in the past, as the most complete
keys to the species in the United States were not based on type
specimens, leading to common misidentifications, especially of the
most common species. Some of the more tropical species occur within
the continental United States and are not included in these previous
keys. Hopefully this work will allow entomologists, ecologists,
behaviorists and other investigators to identify these fascinating ants
and lead to further discoveries.
In this study, we examined the types of nearly all the species,
and have found that many of the species are synonyms of other species.
We include keys to the workers from Canada, United States and
México, rediscriptions of the species, illustrations, maps and lists of
localities. We borrowed types and other specimens from museums
throughout the world, have visited some of these museums for
extended time periods, but have based most of the revision on
specimens we collected over the past 50 years, especially for the
Mexican and Canadian specimens.
This book has been carefully edited by Dr. Patricia Rojas and
Joe MacGown and was greatly improved by including their
suggestions.
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DEDICATION
We dedicate this monograph to Cindy’s children Linda, Noah,
Joshua, and Aaron, as well as Brant, Ethan and Damien, who never
gave up on her. It is published in remembrance of Joshua, who will
always be with her.
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ABSTRACT
The systematics and natural history of thirty-eight North
American (Canada, USA and México) species of the genus
Crematogaster are discussed and the distributions are mapped. A
dichotomous key to the workers is included. The species richness of
this genus is not as great as previously thought in North America.
Many species had been defined based on sculpture or color, characters
that are shown to be variable in many cases. The included species and
changes include:
Crematogaster acuta (Fabricius, 1804), C. ashmeadi Mayr,
1886b, C. atra Mayr, 1870b, C. cerasi Fitch, 1855 (= C. browni Buren,
1968, new synonymy), C. coarctata Mayr, 1870b (= C. mormonum
Emery, 1895, new synonymy and C. californica Emery, 1895,
returned to synonymy), C. corvina Mayr, 1870b, C. crinosa Mayr,
1862, C. curvispinosa Mayr, 1862, C. dentinodis Forel, 1901a, C.
depilis Wheeler, 1919 (= C. larreae Buren, 1968, new synonymy), C.
distans Mayr, 1870a, C. emeryana Creighton, 1950 (= C. marioni
Buren, 1968, new synonymy), C. formosa Mayr, 1870b (= C. formosa
var. aterrima Wheeler, 1909, new synonymy), C. isolata Buren, 1968,
C. laeviuscula Mayr, 1870b (= C. atkinsoni, Wheeler, 1919, C.
lineolata cedrosensis Wheeler, 1934b and C. hespera Buren, 1968,
new synonymies), C. limata F. Smith, 1858, C. lineolata Say, 1836,
C. minutissima Mayr, C. missouriensis Emery, 1895, C. montezumia
F. Smith, 1858, C. mutans Buren, 1968, C. navajoa Buren, 1968, C.
nigropilosa Mayr, 1870a, C. nocturna Buren, 1968, C. obscurata
Emery, 1895, C. opaca Mayr, 1870b, C. patei Buren, 1968, C. pilosa
Emery, 1895, C. pinicola Deyrup and Cover, 2007, C. punctulata
Emery, 1895, C. quadrispinosa Roger, 1863, C. rifelna Buren, 1968,
C. rochai Forel, 1903, C. saussurei Forel, 1899, C. sotobosque
Abstract 10

Longino, 2003, C. sumichrasti Mayr, 1870b, C. torosa Mayr, 1870a,
C. vermiculata Emery 1895 (= C. colei Buren, 1968, C. opuntiae
Buren, 1968 and C. rossi Buren, 1968, new synonymies).
Due to a lack of workers, C. nocturna Buren, 1968 and C.
quadrispinosa Roger, 1863a have not been included in the worker key.