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Subfamily: Myrmicinae   Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 

Classification:

Current Valid Name:



Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2023)

Extant: 6 valid tribes, 147 valid genera, 7,135 valid species

Fossil: 40 valid genera, 189 valid species

Myrmicites Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 PDF: 169 [as family-group name (Heterogynides, tribu Myrmicites)]. Type-genus: Myrmica. AntCat AntWiki

Taxonomic history

[Note: the family-group name Myrmicites Lepeletier de Saint-Fargeau, 1835 is not cognate with the myrmicine collective genus-group name †Myrmicites Förster, 1891.]
Myrmicinae as family-group name: Nylander, 1846a PDF: 877 [Myrmicae].
Myrmicidae as family: Smith, 1851 PDF: 4 [Myrmicidae]; Smith, 1861b PDF: 45 [Myrmicidae]; Smith, 1871a PDF: 324 [Myrmicidae]; André, 1882b PDF: 125, 255 [Myrmicidae]; White, 1884 PDF: 259 [Myrmicidae]; Cresson, 1887 PDF: 93 [Myrmicidae]; Emery, 1894h PDF: 383 [Myrmicidae]; Saunders, 1896 PDF: 18 [Myrmicidae]; Ashmead, 1905c PDF: 383 [Myrmicidae]; Novák & Sadil, 1941 PDF: 71 [Myrmicidae]; Bernard, 1951c: 1058 [Myrmicidae]; Bernard, 1953b PDF: 222 [Myrmicidae].
Myrmicinae as subfamily of Poneridae: Smith, 1858a PDF: 114 [Myrmicidae].
Myrmicinae as subfamily of Myrmicidae: Ashmead, 1905c PDF: 383.
Myrmicinae as subfamily of Formicidae: Nylander, 1846a PDF: 877 [Myrmicae]; Mayr, 1855 PDF: 290, 390 [Formicina, Myrmicidae]; Nylander, 1856b PDF: 53 [Myrmicineae]; Smith, 1857a PDF: 70 [Myrmicidae]; Smith, 1860c PDF: 69 [Myrmicidae]; Mayr, 1861 PDF: 21, 29 [Formicidae, Myrmicidae]; Smith, 1862b PDF: 33 [Myrmicidae]; Mayr, 1862 PDF: 738 [Myrmicidae]; Mayr, 1865 PDF: 17 [Myrmicidae]; Mayr, 1868b PDF: 24 [Myrmicidae]; Forel, 1870 PDF: 307 [Myrmicidae]; Dours, 1873 PDF: 167 [Myrmicidae]; Forel, 1874 PDF: 22, 67 [Formicariae, Myrmicidae]; Emery, 1875b PDF: 470 [Myrmicidei]; Emery, 1877b PDF: 70 [Myrmicidae]; Forel, 1878c PDF: 367 [Myrmicidae]; Emery & Forel, 1879 PDF: 456 [Myrmicidae]; André, 1881c PDF: 64 [Myrmicidae]; Emery, 1887f PDF: 449 [Myrmicidae]; Nasonov, 1889: 28 [Myrmicidae]; Forel, 1890b PDF: lxviii [Myrmicides]; Forel, 1891c PDF: 143 [Myrmicidae]; Forel, 1892k PDF: 220 [Myrmicidae]; Forel, 1893b PDF: 163 [Myrmicinae]; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 53 [Myrmicinae]; Emery, 1895d PDF: 269 [Myrmicini]; Emery, 1895l PDF: 768 [subfamily spelled Myrmicini]; Emery, 1896e PDF: 179 [Myrmicinae]; Mayr, 1897 PDF: 427 [Myrmicini]; Forel, 1899d PDF: 30; Sharp, 1899: 158 [Myrmicides]; Forel, 1901c: 10 [Myrmicinae]; Forel, 1902g PDF: 520; Bingham, 1903 PDF: 105 [Myrmecinae]; Ruzsky, 1905b: 103; Forel, 1908a PDF: 65 [Myrmicidae]; Santschi, 1910e PDF: 648 [Myrmicines]; Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 138 [Myrmicinae]; Santschi, 1913h PDF: 36 [Myrmicinae]; Emery, 1914e PDF: 29; Santschi, 1914b PDF: 70 [Myrmicinae]; Donisthorpe, 1915f PDF: 74; Wheeler, 1915h PDF: 806 [Myrmicides]; Wheeler, 1915i PDF: 40; Arnold, 1916 PDF: 166; Emery, 1916a PDF: 111 [Myrmicinae]; Escherich, 1917: 2 [Myrmicini]; Forel, 1917 PDF: 240 [subfamily erroneously spelled Myrmicini]; Bondroit, 1918 PDF: 14 [Myrmicitae]; Wheeler, 1920 PDF: 53 [Myrmicinae]; Wheeler, 1922: 124, 655 [Myrmicinae]; Emery, 1921c PDF: 3 [Myrmicinae]; Karavaiev, 1934: 59; Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 82; Clark, 1951 PDF: 16; Smith, 1951c PDF: 789; Brown, 1954e PDF: 28; Ettershank, 1966 PDF: 73; Wheeler & Wheeler, 1972a PDF: 40; Kempf, 1972b PDF: 263; Brown, 1973b PDF: 166; Baroni Urbani, 1984 PDF: 76; Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 79; Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 12; Ogata, 1991b PDF: 73; Bolton, 1995b: 13; Bolton, 2003 PDF: 52, 182; Moreau et al., 2006 PDF: 102; Brady et al., 2006 PDF: 18173; Ward, 2007c PDF: 556; Boudinot, 2015 PDF: 56; Perkovsky, 2016 10.1515/vzoo-2016-0014 PDF: 115.
[Myrmecidae/Myrmecinae: incorrect subsequent spelling by Mayr, 1867a PDF: 91; Kirby, 1896 PDF: 207; Bingham, 1903 PDF: 105, and others.]
[Myrmycinae: incorrect subsequent spelling by Santschi, 1932h PDF: 3; Santschi, 1937a PDF: 51.]
Tribes of Myrmicinae: Attini, Crematogastrini, Myrmicini, Pogonomyrmecini, Solenopsidini, Stenammini
Genera incertae sedis in Myrmicinae: †Afromyrma, †Bilobomyrma, †Boltonidris, †Brachytarsites, †Cephalomyrmex, †Clavipetiola, †Electromyrmex, †Eocenidris, †Eomyrmex, †Fallomyrma, †Fushunomyrmex, †Ilemomyrmex, †Lelejus, †Miosolenopsis, †Myrmecites, †Orbigastrula, †Quadrulicapito, †Quineangulicapito, †Sinomyrmex, †Solenopsites, †Sphaerogasterites, Tyrannomyrmex, †Wumyrmex, †Zhangidris
Collective group names in Myrmicinae: †Myrmicites
Subfamily Myrmicinae references
World
Mayr, 1865 PDF: 17 (diagnosis); Mayr, 1867a PDF: 91 (diagnosis); Forel, 1878c PDF: 367 (diagnosis); Handlirsch, 1907: 872 (fossil taxa catalogue); Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 53 (catalogue); Emery, 1895l PDF: 768 (diagnosis); Emery, 1896e PDF: 179 (genera key); Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 138 (diagnosis); Emery, 1912b PDF: 101 (phylogeny); Emery, 1914e PDF: 34 (phylogeny, tribe key); Arnold, 1916 PDF: 164 (diagnosis); Forel, 1917 PDF: 240 (synoptic classification); Forel, 1921c: 139 (diagnosis); Emery, 1921c PDF: 3 (diagnosis, tribes and genera key, catalogue); Wheeler, 1922: 124, 655 (diagnosis, tribes key); Brown & Nutting, 1950 PDF: 126 (venation, phylogeny); Brown, 1954e PDF: 28 (phylogeny); Eisner, 1957 PDF: 477 (proventriculus morphology); Bernard, 1967a PDF: 93 (diagnosis); Gotwald, 1969b PDF: 99 (mouthparts morphology); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1972a PDF: 40 (diagnosis); Brown, 1973b PDF: 166 (genera, distribution); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1976b PDF: 52 (larvae, review and synthesis); Kugler, 1978a: 413 (sting structure); Kugler, 1978b PDF: 267 (pygidial glands); Kugler, 1979c PDF: 117 (sting, evolution); Snelling, 1981: 393 (synoptic classification); Caetano, 1984: 257 (digestive tract, morphology); Taylor & Brown, 1985: 53 (Australia catalogue); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1985b PDF: 257 (synoptic classification); Billen, 1986b: 167 (Dufour's gland); Dlussky & Fedoseeva, 1988: 79 (synoptic classification); Hashimoto, 1990 PDF: 495 (possible Ectatomminae + Myrmicinae synapomorphy); Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 9 onward (synoptic classification, genera keys); Baroni Urbani et al., 1992 PDF: 317 (phylogeny); Bolton, 1994: 75 (diagnosis, synoptic classification, genera keys); Bolton, 1995a PDF: 1040 (census); Bolton, 1995b: 13 (catalogue); Hashimoto, 1996 PDF: 354 (phylogenetic position); Baroni Urbani, 2000 PDF: 480 (phylogeny); Dlussky & Rasnitsyn, 2003 PDF: 422 (diagnosis for wingless fossils); Bolton, 2003 PDF: 52, 182 (diagnosis, synopsis); Moreau et al., 2006 PDF: 102 (phylogeny); Brady et al., 2006 PDF: 18173 (phylogeny); Ward, 2007c PDF: 556 (classification); Keller, 2011 PDF: 1 (morphology, phylogeny); Ward et al., 2015 10.1111/syen.12090 PDF: 61 (phylogeny, tribal classification); Boudinot, 2015 PDF: 56 (male diagnosis); Fisher & Bolton, 2016: 50 (diagnosis).
Regional and national faunas with keys
Mayr, 1855 PDF: 391 (Austria); Mayr, 1861 PDF: 29 (Europe); Mayr, 1868b PDF: 79 (Baltic Amber); André, 1874b: 171 (Europe); Forel, 1874 PDF: 29 (Switzerland); Saunders, 1880 PDF: 213 (Britain); André, 1882d PDF: 256 (Europe and Algeria); Cresson, 1887 PDF: 98 (U.S.A. genera); Provancher, 1887: 243 (Canada); Nasonov, 1889: 54 (Russia); Forel, 1891c PDF: 11 (Madagascar genera); Lameere, 1892: 66 (Belgium); Forel, 1902g PDF: 520 (India and Sri Lanka genera); Bingham, 1903 PDF: 105 (India, Sri Lanka and Burma); Ruzsky, 1905b: 103 (Russian Empire); Wasmann, 1906 PDF: 13 (Luxemburg); Bondroit, 1910 PDF: 490 (Belgium); Wheeler, 1910a PDF: 558 (North America genera); Stitz, 1914 PDF: 55 (Central Europe); Gallardo, 1915 PDF: 32 (Argentina genera); Forel, 1915d: 8 (Switzerland); Donisthorpe, 1915f PDF: 74 (Britain); Arnold, 1916 PDF: 166, 170 (South Africa tribes, genera); Emery, 1916a PDF: 112 (Italy); Wheeler, 1916r: 581 (U.S.A., Connecticut); Bondroit, 1918 PDF: 90 (France and Belgium); Kutter, 1920b: 144 (Switzerland); Soudek, 1922b PDF: 20 (Czechoslovakia); Stärcke, 1926a PDF: 84 (Netherlands); Karavaiev, 1927d: 256 (Ukraine); Donisthorpe, 1927c: 77 (Britain); Menozzi & Russo, 1930 PDF: 170 (Dominican Republic); Gallardo, 1932c PDF: 91 (Argentina, tribes); Arnol'di, 1933a: 596 (Russia); Menozzi, 1933b PDF: 88 (Israel genera); Karavaiev, 1934: 60 (Ukraine); Smith, 1937 PDF: 829 (Puerto Rico); Stitz, 1939: 63 (Germany); Kratochvíl, 1941b PDF: 71 (Central Europe); Novák & Sadil, 1941 PDF: 71 (Central Europe); Cole, 1942 PDF: 360 (U.S.A., Utah); Smith, 1943e PDF: 291 (U.S.A., males); Holgersen, 1943c PDF: 166 (Norway); Holgersen, 1944a PDF: 198 (Norway); Buren, 1944a PDF: 281 (U.S.A., Iowa); Smith, 1947f PDF: 543 (U.S.A. genera); Van Boven, 1947b PDF: 170 (Belgium); Creighton, 1950a PDF: 83 (Nearctic); Kusnezov, 1956a PDF: 15 (Argentina); Brown, 1958h PDF: 25 (New Zealand); Boven, 1959: 7 (Netherlands); Gregg, 1963: 288 (U.S.A., Colorado); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1963: 92 (U.S.A., North Dakota); Collingwood, 1964b PDF: 94 (Britain); Bernard, 1967a PDF: 95 (Western Europe); Wilson & Taylor, 1967b PDF: 13 (Polynesia); Boven, 1970b: 9 (Netherlands); Kempf, 1972b PDF: 263 (Neotropical, synoptic classification); Bolton, 1973a PDF: 325 (West Africa genera); Bolton & Collingwood, 1975: 3 (Britain); Snelling & Hunt, 1976 PDF: 70 (Chile); Tarbinsky, 1976 PDF: 19 (Kyrgyzstan); Van Boven, 1977 PDF: 69 (Belgium); Kutter, 1977c PDF: 31 (Switzerland); Arnol'di & Dlussky, 1978: 524 (former European U.S.S.R.); Collingwood, 1978 PDF: 75 (Iberian Peninsula); Collingwood, 1979 PDF: 36 (Fennoscandia and Denmark); Greenslade, 1979: 20 (South Australia genera); Schembri & Collingwood, 1981 PDF: 423 (Malta); Allred, 1982: 438 (U.S.A., Utah); Baroni Urbani, 1984 PDF: 76 (Neotropical genera); Verhaeghe et al., 1984: 112 (Belgium genera); Gösswald, 1985: 289 (Germany); Collingwood, 1985 PDF: 245 (Saudi Arabia); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1986g PDF: 20 (U.S.A., Nevada); Nilsson & Douwes, 1987: 57 (Norway); Agosti & Collingwood, 1987b PDF: 265 (Balkans); Dlussky et al., 1990 PDF: 181 (Turkmenistan); Kupyanskaya, 1990a: 89 (Far Eastern Russia); Ogata, 1991b PDF: 73 (Japan genera); Morisita et al., 1992: 1 (Japan); Atanassov & Dlussky, 1992: 51 (Bulgaria); Lattke, 1993: 153 (Neotropical genera); Arakelian, 1994 PDF: 15 (Armenia); Wu & Wang, 1995a: 57 (China genera); Kupyanskaya, 1995: 327 (Far Eastern Russia); Collingwood & Agosti, 1996 PDF: 308 (Saudi Arabia); Seifert, 1996b: 108 (Central Europe); Skinner & Allen, 1996: 43 (Britain); Collingwood & Prince, 1998: 10 (Portugal); Shattuck, 1999: 39, 122 (Australia genera, synopsis); Andersen, 2000: 37 (northern Australia genera); Zhou, 2001a PDF: 69 (China, Guangxi); Czechowski et al., 2002 PDF: 135 (Poland); Aktaç & Radchenko, 2002: 55 (Turkey genera); Yoshimura & Onoyama, 2002b PDF: 424 (Japan genera, males); Mackay & Mackay, 2002 PDF: 58 (U.S.A., New Mexico); Palacio & Fernández, in Fernández, 2003e: 244 (Neotropical genera and synopsis); Coovert, 2005 PDF: 32 (U.S.A., Ohio); Radchenko, 2005b PDF: 184 (North Korea); Clouse, 2007b PDF: 190 (Micronesia); Seifert, 2007: 110 (North and Central Europe); Terayama, 2009 PDF: 131 (Taiwan); Heterick, 2009 PDF: 36 (south-western Australia genera); Boer, 2010: 46 (Benelux); Eguchi et al., 2011 PDF: 8 (Vietnam genera); Czechowski et al., 2012: 344 (Poland); General & Alpert, 2012 PDF: 73 (Philippines genera key); Dlussky & Perfilieva, 2014 PDF: 433 (British Eocene species key); Baccaro et al., 2015 10.5281/zenodo.32912 PDF: 82, 202 (Brazil genera key, text); Fernández & Serna, 2019 PDF: 791 (Colombia fauna); Jessen, 2020 10.1007/s12549-019-00406-2 PDF: 31 (Enspel oil shales keys, gynes, workers); Ramamonjisoa et al., 2023 10.3897/zookeys.1163.95696 PDF: 70 (key to tribes of subfamily Myrmicinae based on males in the Malagasy region).
// Distribution

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Chagos Islands, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europa Island, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grande Glorieuse, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ile du Lys, Ivory Coast, Juan de Nova Island, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Macaronesia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tromelin Island, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
    Americas: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curaçao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Galapagos Islands, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, United States, United States Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Venezuela
    Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Borneo, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Cyprus, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Krakatau Islands, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Nicobar Island, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
    Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Balearic Islands, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Channel Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom
    Oceania: American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Hawaii, Kiribati, Lord Howe Island, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Palmyra Atoll, Papua New Guinea, Pitcairn, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and Futuna
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oceania, Palearctic

Identification:

Myrmicine worker ants have a distinct postpetiole, i.e., abdominal segment III is notably smaller than segment IV and set off from it by a well developed constriction; the pronotum is inflexibly fused to the rest of the mesosoma, such that the promesonotal suture is weakly impressed or absent; and a functional sting is usually present. The clypeus is well developed; as a result the antennal sockets are well separated from the anterior margin of the head (cf. Ecitoninae). Most myrmicine genera possess well developed eyes, and frontal lobes that partly conceal the antennal insertions.

Male myrmicines are recognizable by the anterior and posterior constrictions of abdominal segment III, forming a postpetiole, which is smaller than the fourth abdominal segment (gastral segment I); antennal insertions distant from the anterior margin of the clypeus (nearly abutting in the proceratiine genera); meso- and metatibiae never with two spurs each (two each in the pseudomyrmecinae); anterior and posterior foramena of petiole more-or-less in the same plane (the posterior foramen of Tatuidris is distinctly raised above the anterior foramen in profile view). Characters which separate myrmicine from myrmeciine males are not included in this diagnosis; diagnosis based on Yoshimura & FIsher (2007), M.R. Smith (1943) and Boudinot ("Mesoamerican Males" in prep.).

Notes:

This is the largest ant subfamily, with more than 130 species in California alone. Most species are generalist omnivores but some have become specialized as predators, granivores, or fungus-growers.

References:

Bolton (1994, 2000); Ettershank (1966); Kugler (1978a, 1979c, 1986); Ogata (1991b).

Male references:

Smith, M.R. (1943) A generic and subgeneric synopsis of the male ants of the United States. American Midland Naturalist, 30: 273--321.

Yoshimura, M. & Fisher B.L. (2007) A revision of male ants of the Malagasy region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): key to subfamilies and treatment of the genera of Ponerinae. Zootaxa, 1654: 21--40.

 

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

Scientific Name Status Publication Pages ModsID GoogleMaps
Myrmicinae   Donisthorpe, H. S. J. K., 1938, Five new species of ant, chiefly from New Guinea., Annals and Magazine of Natural History 1, pp. 140-148: 141, (download) 141 5782
Dodous   Donisthorpe, H. S. J. K., 1946, A new genus and species of Formicidae (Hym.) from Mauritius., Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London 15, pp. 145-147: 145, (download) 145 5834
Myrmicinae   Collingwood, C. A., 1979, The Formicidae (Hymenoptera) of Fennoscandia and Denmark., Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica 8, pp. 1-174: 36-40, (download) 36-40 6175
Myrmicinae   Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269: 124-125, (download) 124-125 20597


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