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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2021)

// Distribution

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Americas: Mexico, United States
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Nearctic, Neotropical

Distribution Notes:

This genus is primarily Neotropical; Nearctic range: CA, AZ and likely NM. Collected from the Chiricahua Mtns, Cochise Co., Arizona.

Biology:

Habitat in Southwest: creosote scrub. This species nests in the soil, and forages in columns, collecting leaves and pieces of leaves ranging from mesquite (Prosopsis spp.), Jatropha dioica, creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), buffalo gourd (Curcubita foetidissima) to composite seeds. Nests are large, with probably several thousand workers.

Wheeler, 1907, 1911, 1917; Weber, 1972; Rojas-Fernndez and Fragoso, 1994, 2000.

(From Mackay and Mackay, 2002)

Identification:

Identification in the Nearctic Southwest: the frontal carinae extend about  the length to the occiput, and the occipital lobes are covered with coarse rugae. The mesosoma has numerous spines and the gaster is covered with tubercles. Ants of this genus have 11 segmented antennae in which the insertion is hidden by the frontal lobes. Most tubercles and spines have a curved, coarse hair. In North America, it could only be confused with Trachymyrmex, from which it differs in being polymorphic. Atta also occurs in the United States (southern AZ, southern TX), and is similar to Acromyrmex, but differs in that the dorsum of the gaster is smooth (no tubercles).
(From Mackay and Mackay, 2002).

References:

Mackay, W.P. and Mackay, E.E. (2002). The ants of New Mexico (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The Edwin Mullen Press, Lewiston: 400 pp.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 2 times found in Sonoran desert wash, 3 times found in cactus-ocotillo desert, 1 times found in desert wash, 1 times found in Chihuahuah desert scrub, 1 times found in creosote bush-mesquite desert, 1 times found in desert woodland, 1 times found in dry cactus plain, 1 times found in dry wash, 1 times found in Port of entry, 1 times found in Sonoran desert.

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 1 times ground enst, 1 times foragers on ground, 2 times under boulder, 1 times ground forager(s), 1 times under rock, 1 times ground nest.

Collected most commonly using these methods: 3 times direct collection, 1 times hand collecting, 1 times pitfall traps.

Elevations: collected from 465 - 1240 meters, 722 meters average

Collect Date Range: collected between 1917-07-30 and 2016-05-01

Type specimens: syntype of Atta versicolor: castype00618

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