Genus: Megalomyrmex

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)

44 species

Megalomyrmex Forel, 1885a PDF: 371. Type-species: Megalomyrmex leoninus, by monotypy. AntCat AntWiki HOL

Taxonomic history

[Type-species not Formica bituberculata, unjustified subsequent designation by Wheeler, 1911g PDF: 167.].

Megalomyrmex in Myrmicinae: Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 71.

Megalomyrmex in Myrmicinae, Myrmicini: Emery, 1895l PDF: 769; Forel, 1899B: 57; Ashmead, 1905c PDF: 383; Wheeler, 1910a: 139.

Megalomyrmex in Myrmicinae, Pheidolini: Kusnezov, 1952d PDF: 10 (in key).

Megalomyrmex in Myrmicinae, Megalomyrmex genus group: Ettershank, 1966 PDF: 81; in Solenopsis genus group: Bolton, 1987 PDF: 271; Brandão, 1990b PDF: 412.

Megalomyrmex in Myrmicinae, Megalomyrmecini: Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 80.

Megalomyrmex in Myrmicinae, Solenopsidini: Emery, 1914e: 41 [subtribe Monomoriini]; Forel, 1917 PDF: 243; Emery, 1922c PDF: 189; Wheeler, 1922: 663; Kusnezov, 1957b PDF: 268; Kusnezov, 1962b PDF: 160; Kusnezov, 1964 PDF: 61; Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 16; Jaffe, 1993: 10; Bolton, 1994: 106.

Genus Megalomyrmex references

Emery, 1890c: 47 (all species key); Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 71 (catalogue); Wheeler, 1909b PDF: 236 (all species key); Emery, 1922c PDF: 189 (diagnosis, catalogue); Wheeler, 1925a: 32 (all species key); Ettershank, 1966 PDF: 101 (diagnosis, review of genus, checklist); Kempf, 1972b PDF: 139 (catalogue); Bolton, 1987 PDF: 285 (genus); Brandão, 1990b PDF: 411 (diagnosis, all species revision, key); Bolton, 1995a PDF: 1050 (census); Bolton, 1995b: 249 (catalogue); Longino, 2010 PDF: 37 (Central America species key); Boudinot, Sumnicht & Adams, 2013 PDF: 1 (male diagnosis, Central America species keys).

Taxon Page Images:

Colonies of the social parasite Megalomyrmex adamsae are small, consisting of only a handful of ants. They raise their brood in small chambers built within the fungus gardens of their host species. Here the queen is visible in the middle of the nest chamber. Panama; captive colony at the University of Texas.
Image © Alex Wild.

Distribution:

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

Afrotropical Region: Ivory Coast
Nearctic Region: Puebla
Neotropical Region: Alajuela, Amambay, Amazonas, Amazonas, Americas, Aragua, Argentina, Atlántida, Bahia, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Cartago, Central, Central America, Chiapas, Chontales, Coclé, Colombia, Colón, Comayagua, Cortés, Costa Caribe Norte, Costa Caribe Sur, Costa Rica, Cotopaxi, Cusco, Darién, Ecuador, El Beni, El Progreso, French Guiana, Goiás, Gracias a Dios, Guanacaste, Guatemala, Guayas, Guyana, Heredia, Honduras, Huehuetenango, Islas de la Bahía, Izabal, Jinotega, La Paz, Limón, Loreto, Madre de Dios, Magdalena, Matagalpa, Mato Grosso do Sul, Meta, Mexico, Minas Gerais, Misiones, Morona-Santiago, Nariño, Nicaragua, Oaxaca, Olancho, Panama, Panamá, Paraguay, Paraná, Pasco, Peru, Petén, Pichincha, Puntarenas, Putumayo, Rio de Janeiro, Rondônia, San José, San Martín, Santa Catarina, South America, Suriname, São Paulo, Trinidad and Tobago, Táchira, Valle del Cauca, Venezuela, Veracruz, Zacapa