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Genus: Eciton   Latreille, 1804 


Classification:

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)

12 species, 17 subspecies

Eciton Latreille, 1804: 179. Type-species: Formica hamata, by subsequent designation of Shuckard, in Swainson & Shuckard, 1840: 173. AntCat AntWiki

Taxonomic history

Eciton in Myrmicites: Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 PDF: 172.
Eciton in Poneridae, Myrmicidae: Smith, 1858a PDF: 148.
Eciton in Myrmicinae: Mayr, 1865 PDF: 17 [Myrmicidae]; Cresson, 1887 PDF: 259 [Myrmicidae].
Eciton in Dorylinae: Forel, 1878c PDF: 365 (footnote) [Dorylidae]; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 1; Forel, 1895b PDF: 118; Forel, 1899B: 22; Brady, Fisher, Schultz & Ward, 2014 PDF: 5.
Eciton in Dorylinae, Ecitonini: Forel, 1893b PDF: 163; Emery, 1895l PDF: 765 [Ecitonii]; Emery, 1910b PDF: 17 [Ecitini]; Wheeler, 1910a: 138; Forel, 1917 PDF: 240; Gallardo, 1920 PDF: 312; Wheeler, 1922: 635; Borgmeier, 1923: 37; Donisthorpe, 1943g: 641; Borgmeier, 1955 PDF: 79; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 101; Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 79.
Eciton in Ecitoninae: Brown, 1973b PDF: 166; Snelling, 1981: 392.
Eciton in Ecitoninae, Ecitonini: Ashmead, 1905c PDF: 381; Ashmead, 1906 PDF: 24; Bolton, 1990c PDF: 1357; Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 12; Jaffe, 1993: 13; Bolton, 1994: 39; all subsequent authors.
Genus Eciton references
Smith, 1858a PDF: 148 (diagnosis); Roger, 1863b: 36 (catalogue); Mayr, 1863a PDF: 408 (catalogue); Mayr, 1865 PDF: 17, 77 (diagnosis, all species key); Mayr, 1886a PDF: 115 (all species key); Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 1 (catalogue); Emery, 1900e: 176 (all species, males key); Emery, 1910b PDF: 17 (diagnosis, subgenera key, catalogue); Gallardo, 1920 PDF: 312 (Argentina species key); Borgmeier, 1955 PDF: 162, 175 (diagnosis, all species revision, key); Kempf, 1972b PDF: 101 (Neotropical catalogue); Watkins, 1976 PDF: 9 (all species key); Watkins, 1982 PDF: 209 (Mexico species key); Billen, 1986b: 170 (Dufour's gland); Brandão, 1991 PDF: 341 (catalogue); Bolton, 1995a PDF: 1049 (census); Bolton, 1995b: 184 (catalogue); Palacio, 1999: 151 (Colombia species key); Borowiec, 2016 10.3897/zookeys.608.9427 PDF: 129 (worker, male diagnosis)

Taxon Page Images:



Eciton burchellii bivouac. These army ants form living nests from their own bodies. Maquipucuna reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador.
Image © Alex Wild.

Distribution:

(based on species list records)   Genus is native to: Neotropical bioregion.

Nearctic Region: Colorado, North America, United States
Neotropical Region: Alajuela, Amazonas, Amazonas, Amazonas, Americas, Aragua, Argentina, Atlántida, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canindeyú, Caribbean, Cayo, Central America, Chiapas, Chiriquí, Coclé, Colombia, Colón, Colón, Cortés, Costa Caribe Norte, Costa Caribe Sur, Costa Rica, Darién, Demerara-Mahaica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galápagos, Goiás, Gracias a Dios, Granada, Guanacaste, Guatemala, Guyana, Heredia, Honduras, Huánuco, Islas de la Bahía, Jalisco, Jinotega, Jujuy, La Libertad, Limón, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Madriz, Magdalena, Masaya, Matagalpa, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Mexico, Minas Gerais, Misiones, Napo, Nicaragua, Nueva Segovia, Oaxaca, Olancho, Panama, Panamá, Paraguarí, Paraguay, Paraná, Pará, Peru, Petén, Pichincha, Puntarenas, Quintana Roo, Retalhuleu, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, San José, Santa Cruz, Sinaloa, South America, Suchitepéquez, Sucumbíos, Suriname, São Paulo, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Venezuela, Veracruz

Identification:

Key to species based on males (translated and adapted from Borgmeier 1955 by B.E. Boudinot)

1 Mandibular apex truncate and rounded ... E. jansoni
- Mandibular apex pointed ...2
2 Mandibles broadest in basal third (mandibles appearing narrow) ... 3
- Mandibles broades in apical half (mandibles appearing broad) ... 5
3 Mandibles more or less straight (and very thin) ... E. burchelli
- Mandibles bent basally ... 4
4 Mandibles long, apical tooth almost straight ... E. dulcius
- Mandibles shorter, apical tooth curved inwards ... E. quadriglurne
5 Subapical tooth small; apical tooth slightly bent ... 6
- Subapical tooth very large; apical tooth bent, hook-shaped ... 8
6 Metasoma with erect bristles ... 7
- Metasoma without erect bristles ... E. vagans
7 Scape with standing setae. Body reddish or rusty yellow; abdominal tergites 3-5 with scattered standing setae ... E. hamatum
- Scape without standing setae. Body blackish brown; tergites 3-5 with setae restricted to a band ... E. setigaster
8 Area between subapical and apical teeth straight ... E. uncinatum
- Area between subapical and apical teeth with broad concavity subtending apical tooth ... E. mexicanum

References:

Borgmeier, T. 1955. Die Wanderameisen der neotropischen Region. Studia Entomologica 3:1-720.

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Scientific Name Status Publication Pages ModsID GoogleMaps
Eciton   Smith, F., 1858, Catalogue of the hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae., London: British Museum, pp. -1--1: 148, (download) 148 8127
Eciton   Forel, A., 1893, Formicides de l'Antille St. Vincent. Récoltées par Mons. H. H. Smith., Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1893, pp. 333-418: 369, (download) 369 3948
Eciton   Jerdon, T. C., 1851, A catalogue of the species of ants found in southern India., Madras Journal of Literature and Science 17, pp. 103-127: 111, (download) 111 4764


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