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Brachymyrmex heeri basalis

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)

Overview:

Brachymyrmex heeri is a shiny yellow to brown small, soft-bodied, nondescript species approximately 1.22 mm in length. It lives in polygynous colonies, occupies shallow nests often located in disturbed habitats, and has successfully established populations outside its native range.

Distribution:

(based on species list records)   Species is introduced to: Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Oceania, Palearctic bioregions.

Nearctic Region: Florida, North America, Sonora, United States
Neotropical Region: Alajuela, Americas, Argentina, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Caribbean, Central, Central America, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Progreso, French Guiana, Galapagos Islands, Galápagos, Guanacaste, Guatemala, Guerrero, Guyana, Haiti, Heredia, Jalisco, Jamaica, Limón, Magdalena, Mexico, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Paraguay, Pinar del Río, Puerto Rico, Puntarenas, San José, Sinaloa, South America, Suchitepéquez, Suriname, Trelawny, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Veracruz, Zacapa
Palearctic Region: Europe, Switzerland, Ukraine, Western Europe, Zurich

Distribution Notes:

Native range. Throughout Neotropics; a widespread synanthropic species.
Introduced range. Galapagos, Europe.
Occasionally intercepted at US ports of entry.

Costa Rica: Alajuela (Juan Santamaria airport); Guanacaste (Finca La Pacifica, Estacion Pitilla); Heredia (Santo Domingo de Heredia, La Selva Biological Station); Puntarenas (Corcovado, Monteverde); San Jose (San Jose).

Biology:

The species is native to the Neotropics, but was originally described from Zurich, Switzerland (Forel, 1874;1876). They where they were found in abundance on greenhouse orchids in tropical botanical garden, but the population was gone (possibly replaced by Plagiolepis) by 1904 (Santschi, 1923). Brachymyrmex heeri is a widespread across Central America, South America and the Caribbean (Kempf, 1972). It was also recently reported from the Galapagos Islands, where they were found in association with introduced hemipteran Icerya purchasi Maskell, and in the agricultural zone of San Cristbal (Herrera & Longino, 2008). It is not clear the extent to which B. heeri is native (versus introduced) to many of the Caribbean islands (Wetterer & Wetterer, 2004). Thus far there have been no confirmed reports of the species establishing in the United States, but it has been intercepted at a Texas port of entry (Christopher Wilson, pers. comm.). In addition to Forels original description  from Switzerland, the species has been reported from Germany, France and the Ukraine (Rasplus et al., 2010).

In Costa Rica (Jack Longino)
This is a common species of synanthropic habitats in Costa Rica. It can be found in small parks in the middle of San Jose, in hotel landscaping, along road edges, in scrubby second growth vegetation, and in pastures. It occurs in almost any bioclimatic region: dry Guanacaste lowlands, wet Atlantic slope lowlands, Central Valley urban areas, and roads and pastures near Monteverde cloud forest. Nests are often under stones on the ground but also occur in cavities in low vegetation. Colonies are polygynous, with multiple dealate queens often occurring together in nests. Workers are omnivorous and opportunistic foragers.

Identification:

Diagnosis among workers of introduced and commonly intercepted species.
Antenna 9-segmented. Antennal club indistinct. Antennal scapes surpassing the posterior margin of head by more than 1/5th their length. Eyes of moderate size (greater than 5 facets). Eye length approximately equal to or slightly greater than malar distance. Head with or without distinct ocelli. Antennal sockets and posterior clypeal margin separated by a distance less than the minimum width of antennal scape. Dorsum of mesosoma lacking a deep and broad concavity. Metanotal groove present. Pronotum and mesonotum with pairs of erect hairs. Propodeum and petiolar node both lacking a pair of short teeth. Propodeum lacking posteriorly projecting protrusion. Metapleuron with a distinct gland orifice. Waist 1-segmented (may be hidden by gaster). Petiolar node appearing flattened. Gaster armed with acidopore. Gaster (especially first segment) with sparse pilosity, giving it a shiny appearance. Color yellow to brown.

The taxonomy of Brachymyrmex is in considerable need of revision before many of the current species names can confidently be applied to specimens. Brachymyrmex heeri can be distinguished from most other introduced members of the genus by the following combination of characters: (1) sparse pubescence on the first gastral tergite, (2) antennal scapes exceeding posterior margin of head by at least 1/5 their length, (3) erect hairs on the pronotum and mesonotum, and (4) eye length equal to or greater than malar distance. More yellowish specimens of B. heeri can be separated from the brown species B. patagonicus, but greater taxonomic study is required in order to separate darker B. heeri specimens. Joe MacGown (2012) suggests that dark B. heeri can be separated from B. patagonicus by the formers lack of ocelli, but the presence/absence of ocelli may be an unreliable character (Christopher Wilson, pers. comm.).

References:

Forel, A. (1874) Les fourmis de la Suisse. Systematique, notices anatomiques et physiologiques, architecture, distribution geographique, nouvelles experiences et observations de moeurs. Neue Denkschr. Allg. Schweiz. Ges. Gesammten Naturwiss., 26, 1-452.

Forel, A. (1876) Etudes myrmecologiques en 1875 avec remarques sur un point de l'anatomie des coccides. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat., 14, 33-62.

Herrera, H.W. & Longino, J.T. (2008) New records of introduced ants (Hymenoptera; Formicidae) in the Galapagos Islands. Galapagos Res., 65, 16-19.

Kempf, W.W. (1972) Catalogo abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical. Stud. Entomol., 15, 3-344.
Rasplus, J.Y., Villemant, C., Paiva, M.R., Delvare, G. & Roques, A. (2010) Hymenoptera. BioRisk, 4(2), 669-776.

Santschi, F. (1923) Revue des fourmis du genre Brachymyrmex Mayr. An. Mus. Nac. Hist. Nat. B. Aires, 31, 650-678; pl. 1-3.

Wetterer, J.K. & Wetterer, A.L. (2004) Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bermuda. Florida Entomol., 87, 212-221.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 23 times found in montane wet forest, 0 times found in Tropical hardwood forest, 6 times found in cloud forest, 1 times found in Puesto#1,84G, 10m, 1 times found in forest, 0 times found in Tropical Brushland, 4 times found in lowland rainforest, 4 times found in tropical rainforest, some big trees, 1 times found in huertos, 3 times found in cave survey, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 11 times Sobre Vegetacion, 4 times Ex sifted leaf litter, 2 times treefall at Carlos and Liddys' house, strangler Ficus with attached Clusia, othe, 1 times dead log, 4 times at bait, 3 times nest under stone, 1 times at bait trap in pasture, 1 times WItheringia asterotricha stems, 1 times nest in clay soil, 2 times Hojarasca, 2 times beating veg., ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 20 times search, 11 times Sweeping, 0 times under rock, 6 times Berlese, 7 times Winkler, 5 times baiting, 5 times Malaise, 5 times Mini Winkler, 0 times on tree trunk, 3 times flight intercept trap, 1 times Aspirador; colectada en flores de Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, ...

Elevations: collected from 5 - 2270 meters, 742 meters average

Type specimens: Lectotype of Brachymyrmex heeri: usnment00757169; syntype of Brachymyrmex heeri: casent0903119, casent0905791

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