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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2022)

// Distribution

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Americas: Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Belize, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Venezuela
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Nearctic, Neotropical

Distribution Notes:

This common and widely distributed species ranges from Florida, the Caribbean and Mexico, south to Argentina.

Biology:

P. simplex shows a preference for nesting in dead twigs of woody shrubs or trees, rather than in dead stalks of herbaceous plants. In Florida, nests have been collected in dead twigs or stalks of Baccharis halimifolia, Cladium jamaicense, Laguncularia racemosa, Metopium toxiferum. and Nectandra coriacea; there are also museum records from Carya floridana and Swietenia mahagoni. Ward (1985) recorded Costa Rican nests of P. simplex in dead twigs of Anacardium, Ardisia revoluta, Avicennia germinans, Conocarpus erectus, Gliricidia sepium, Hibiscus tiliaceus, and Terminalia catappa.

Most P. simplex nests dissected by Ward (1985) were queenless (indicating a high level of polydomy),
some were monogynous, and one contained two functional (i.e. inseminated, with well-developed ovaries) dealate queens.

Alates have been collected in May, June, and September in Florida.

Identification:

Worker:

• standing pilosity sparse, absent from mesonotum and propodeum
• small size (HW 0.55-0.74)
• eyes relatively long (REL 0.52-0.61)
• abdominal tergite IV smooth and shining, lacking a dense mat of appressed pubescence
• vertex of head smooth and shining
• profemur broad (FI 0.45-0.52)

Taxonomic Notes:

This species is the smallest one of a trio of orange Pseudomyrmex (P. pallidus, P. seminole, P. simplex) which have been confused repeatedly in the United States. P. simplex workers are recognizable by their smooth, shiny, puncticulate head; broad forefemur (FI >0.44); and shining fourth abdominal tergite which is devoid of a dense mat of appressed pubescence. In addition the workers have long eyes, closely contiguous frontal carinae, a very shallow metanotal groove, and a short petiole and postpetiole. There is a fair range of variation in size and body proportions. P. simplex tends to be lighter in color than related species, and the fuscous patches on abdominal tergite IV are usually conspicuous, at least in Florida populations (less so in Central and South America).

References:

Ward, P. S. 1985. The Nearctic species of the genus Pseudomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Quaestiones Entomologicae 21: 209-246.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Specimen Habitat Summary

Found most commonly in these habitats: 22 times found in mangrove, 23 times found in rainforest, 16 times found in rainforest edge, 28 times found in montane wet forest, 9 times found in CCL 700m., 12 times found in 2º lowland rainforest, 18 times found in red mangrove, 17 times found in tropical moist forest, 7 times found in pine forest, 10 times found in tropical rainforest, ...

Found most commonly in these microhabitats: 38 times beating vegetation, 27 times on low vegetation, 20 times Malaise trap, 11 times dead twig Laguncularia racemosa, 14 times ex sifted leaf litter, 10 times ex dead twig, 6 times beating veg., 4 times ex dead Cladium culm, 7 times ex dead twig of woody shrub, 4 times at light, 6 times ex Carya floridana twig, ...

Collected most commonly using these methods: 74 times Fogging, 48 times Malaise, 44 times beating, 31 times Search, 7 times direct collection, 7 times MiniWinkler, 5 times Baiting, 5 times MaxiWinkler, 2 times beating vegetation (3 hours), 4 times yellow bowl trap, 3 times beating vegetation (2 hours), ...

Elevations: collected from 1 - 1200 meters, 217 meters average

Collect Date Range: collected between 1944-04-01 and 2019-06-25

Type specimens: Holotype of Pseudomyrmex simplex: casent0902901; syntype of Pseudomyrma delicatula: casent0902902, casent0907489; syntype of Pseudomyrma delicatula capperi: casent0907490; syntype of Pseudomyrma delicatula panamensis: casent0907491; Type of unavailable quadrinomial: Pseudomyrma acanthobia delicatula vittata: casent0907492

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