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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2017)

Taxon Page Images:

Pseudomyrmex peperi is an obligate Acacia inhabitant. Here, a worker gathers a lipid-rich Beltian body from a leaf tip. The plant feeds the ants in exchange for protection from herbivores and competing plants. Armenia, Belize.

Not all of the thorns on a swollen-thorn Acacia house the ants' larvae, but those that do are heavily guarded. Here, Pseudomyrmex spinicola patrol a nest entrance, ready to use their stings if the photographer approaches too close. Chiriqui, Panama.
Images © Alex Wild.

Distribution:

(based on species list records)   Genus is native to: Nearctic, Neotropical bioregions.

Nearctic Region: Alabama, Arizona, Baja California, Baja California Sur, California, Chihuahua, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hidalgo, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, México, New Mexico, North America, North Carolina, Nuevo León, Puebla, San Luis Potosí, Sonora, Texas, United States, Washington, D.C., Zacatecas
Neotropical Region: Acre, Ahuachapán, Alajuela, Alta Verapaz, Amapá, Amazonas, Amazonas, Amazonas, Amazonas, Americas, Ancash, Antioquia, Anzoátegui, Aragua, Arauca, Argentina, Artemisa, Atacama, Atlántico, Atlántida, Azua, Bahamas, Bahia, Barbados, Barinas, Belize, Belize, Boaco, Bocas del Toro, Bolivia, Bolívar, Bolívar, Boquerón, Boyacá, Brazil, Buenos Aires, Caaguazú, Camagüey, Campeche, Canindeyú, Caquetá, Carabobo, Carazo, Caribbean, Cartago, Casanare, Catamarca, Cauca, Cayman Islands, Cayo, Ceará, Central, Central America, Cesar, Chaguanas, Chalatenango, Chiapas, Chile, Chinandega, Chiriquí, Chocó, Choluteca, Cibao Nordeste, Cibao Noroeste, Cibao Norte, Ciudad de México, Cochabamba, Colima, Colombia, Colonia, Colón, Colón, Comayagua, Coquimbo, Cordillera, Corozal, Corrientes, Cortés, Costa Caribe Norte, Costa Caribe Sur, Costa Rica, Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo, Cuba, Cundinamarca, Cusco, Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Córdoba, Darién, Demerara-Mahaica, Diego Martin, Distrito Federal, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Beni, El Progreso, El Salvador, Elías Piña, Enriquillo, Entre Ríos, Escuintla, Essequibo Islands-West Demerara, Estelí, Exuma, Falcón, Formosa, Francisco Morazán, French Guiana, Gracias a Dios, Granada, Granma, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guanacaste, Guatemala, Guatemala, Guaviare, Guayas, Guerrero, Guyana, Guárico, Haiti, Harbour Island, Heredia, Herrera, Holguín, Honduras, Huehuetenango, Huila, Huánuco, Islas de la Bahía, Itapúa, Izabal, Jalisco, Jamaica, Jinotega, Jujuy, Junin, Jutiapa, Kingston, Kuna Yala, La Guajira, La Libertad, La Libertad, La Paz, La Paz, La Rioja, La Unión, Lambayeque, Lara, Lempira, León, Limón, Loreto, Los Ríos, Los Ríos, Los Santos, Madre de Dios, Madriz, Magdalena, Managua, Mangrove Cay, Maranhão, María Trinidad Sánchez, Masaya, Matagalpa, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Maule, Mayaro-Rio Claro, Meta, Mexico, Michoacán de Ocampo, Minas Gerais, Miranda, Misiones, Monagas, Morelos, Morona-Santiago, Mérida, Nacional, Napo, Nariño, Nayarit, New Providence, Nicaragua, Nueva Esparta, Oaxaca, Ocotepeque, Olancho, Orange Walk, Orellana, Ouest, Ozama, Panama, Panamá, Panamá Oeste, Para, Paraguarí, Paraguay, Paraná, Pará, Pastaza, Paysandú, Penal-Debe, Peru, Petén, Pichincha, Pinar del Río, Portuguesa, Presidente Hayes, Princes Town, Puerto Rico, Puntarenas, Quintana Roo, Región Metropolitana, Retalhuleu, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Risaralda, Rivas, Rondônia, Río San Juan, Sacatepéquez, Saint Andrew, Saint Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Lucia, Salta, San Andres y Providencia, San Cristóbal, San José, San Juan-Laventille, San Martín, San Miguel, San Pedro, San Salvador, San Salvador, San Vicente, Sancti Spíritus, Santa Catarina, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Santa Rosa, Santiago de Cuba, Sinaloa, Sipaliwini, Sololá, Sonsonate, South Abaco, South America, Suchitepéquez, Sucre, Sucumbíos, Suriname, São Paulo, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tobago, Tocantins, Tolima, Trinidad and Tobago, Trujillo, Tucumán, Tunapuna-Piarco, Tungurahua, Ucayali, Upper Demerara-Berbice, Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo, Uruguay, Valle, Valle del Cauca, Valparaíso, Vaupés, Venezuela, Veracruz, Veraguas, Villa Clara, Westmoreland, Yaracuy, Yoro, Yucatán, Zacapa, Zamora-Chinchipe, Zulia, Ñeembucú
Oceania Region: Hawaii

Biology:

Most species of Pseudomyrmex nest in dead twigs or stems of woody plants. Some have become specialized inhabitants of live plant domatia, such as the acacia-ants that occupy swollen-thorn acacias.

Identification:

Worker: antennae 12-segmented; mandibles with proximal tooth on basal margin; eyes large and elongate, more than 1.5 times as long as wide. Other characters as in subfamily.

Notes:

The genus is predominantly Neotropical, with only two species occurring in California.

References:

Kempf (1958f, 1960a, 1961a, 1967c); Ward (1985b, 1989a, 1992, 1993, 1999).

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

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