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Genus: Euprenolepis

Name Status: Valid Name

Taxonomic Hierarchy:

Subfamily: Formicinae Genus: Euprenolepis

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2013)

8 species

Euprenolepis Emery, 1906b PDF: 134 [as subgenus of Prenolepis] Type-species: Prenolepis procera, by original designation. AntCat AntWiki

Taxonomic history

Euprenolepis in Camponotinae, Formicini: Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 143.

Euprenolepis in Camponotinae, Prenolepidini: Forel, 1917 PDF: 249.

Euprenolepis in Formicinae, Acanthomyopsini: Donisthorpe, 1943g: 645.

Euprenolepis in Formicinae, Brachymyrmecini: Wheeler & Wheeler, 1985b PDF: 258.

Euprenolepis in Formicinae, Prenolepidini: Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 18.

Euprenolepis in Formicinae, Pseudolasius genus group: Agosti, 1991 PDF: 296.

Euprenolepis in Formicinae, Lasiini: Emery, 1925d PDF: 223; Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 77; Bolton, 1994: 50.

Euprenolepis in Formicinae, Plagiolepidini: Bolton, 2003 PDF: 23, 102.

Euprenolepis as subgenus of Prenolepis: Emery, 1906b PDF: 134; Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 143; Forel, 1917 PDF: 249; Wheeler, 1922: 697.

Euprenolepis as subgenus of Paratrechina: Emery, 1925d PDF: 223; Donisthorpe, 1943g: 645; Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 218.

Euprenolepis as genus: Brown, 1953h: 6; Bolton, 1994: 50; LaPolla, 2009 PDF: 6.

Genus Euprenolepis references

Emery, 1925d PDF: 223 (diagnosis, catalogue); Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 214 (Asia checklist); Bolton, 1994: 50 (synoptic classification); Bolton, 1995a PDF: 1049 (census); Bolton, 1995b: 189 (catalogue); LaPolla, 2009 PDF: 6 (diagnosis, all species revision, key); LaPolla, Brady & Shattuck, 2010A PDF: 124 (diagnosis).

Genus Euprenolepis references

Biology:

Euprenolepis procera is known to be a legionary nomad (McGlynn 2012) and a specialist fungivore as described by Witte & Maschwitz (2008):

In a Southeast Asian rainforest habitat, Euprenolepis procera is specialized in harvesting a broad spectrum of naturally growing mushrooms, a nutritionally challenging and spatiotemporally unpredictable food source. While unfavorable to the vast majority of animals, E. procera has developed exceptional adaptations such as a shift to a fully nomadic lifestyle and special food processing capabilities, which allow it to rely entirely on mushrooms.

Further, E. procera invests little energy in nesting, and frequently relocate their nests nocturnally (Witte & Maschwitz 2008):

All of 40 located E. procera colonies nested opportunistically inside preformed cavities, without obvious nest construction. Furthermore, these ants migrated with high frequency. Eight out of 12 field colonies, which were monitored regularly without disturbance, disappeared within a few days (median, 4 days; range, 1–9 days). Three nest relocations were encountered in the field with emigration columns reaching over several meters and sporadic brood caches on the leaf litter surface. Captured colonies varied considerably in size, comprising approximately 500–5,000 workers and up to three queens. Much larger colonies were observed in the field with estimated colony sizes (based on the duration of their emigrations) of up to 20,000 workers or more.

References:

McGlynn, T. (2012) The ecology of nest movement in social insects. Annual Review of Entomology, 57: 291-308.

Witte, V., & Maschwitz, U. (2008) Mushroom harvesting ants in the tropical rain forest. Naturwissenschaften, DOI 10.1007/s00114-008-0421-9

Taxon Page Author History

On 2013-04-13 18:35:47 Brendon Boudinot modified References
On 2013-04-13 18:34:05 Brendon Boudinot modified Biology
On 2013-04-13 18:33:35 Brendon Boudinot modified Biology