| Acromyrmex ameliae | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Attini |
| Genus: | Acromyrmex |
| Species: | A. ameliae |
| Binomial name | |
| Acromyrmex ameliae De Souza, Soares & Della Lucia, 2007 [1] | |
Acromyrmex ameliae is a species of New World ants of the subfamily Myrmicinae. This species is from one of the two genera of advanced fungus-growing ants within the tribe Attini. It is found in the wild naturally in South America in Minas Gerais, Brasil.[ citation needed ]
In biology, a species ( ) is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. Other ways of defining species include their karyotype, DNA sequence, morphology, behaviour or ecological niche. In addition, paleontologists use the concept of the chronospecies since fossil reproduction cannot be examined. While these definitions may seem adequate, when looked at more closely they represent problematic species concepts. For example, the boundaries between closely related species become unclear with hybridisation, in a species complex of hundreds of similar microspecies, and in a ring species. Also, among organisms that reproduce only asexually, the concept of a reproductive species breaks down, and each clone is potentially a microspecies.
In biological classification, a subfamily is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoological names with "-inae".
Myrmicinae is a subfamily of ants, with about 140 extant genera; their distribution is cosmopolitan. The pupae lack cocoons. Some species retain a functional sting. The petioles of Myrmicinae consist of two nodes. The nests are permanent and in soil, rotting wood, under stones, or in trees.
A. ameliae is a social parasite with much smaller reproductives (females and males) than those of its hosts A. subterraneus subterraneus and A. s. brunneus . Morphometrically, the A. ameliae queen is not a simple miniature of its hosts' queens, like Myrmica microrubra and its host Myrmica rubra . The species can be distinguish from the host using its propodeal spines: they are straight and laterally compressed unlike A. subterraneus subspecies, where they are slight to strongly curved and conical. A. ameliae differs from Acromyrmex insinuator (another social parasite) not only by its size and color (brown dark against yellowish-orange), but also it does not present a single strong median ruga extending from the central ocellus to the level of the posterior borders of lateral ocelli, like A. insinuator. On the contrary, around its central ocellus, the cuticle is wholly rugous without a distinct median ruga. In A. insinuator, the anteroventral edge of the postpetiole is broadly and evenly concave, without a broad median anteroventral extension. The anteroventral portion of the postpetiole in A. ameliae has irregular extensions, without the concavity present in the first species.[ citation needed ]
Myrmica microrubra is a species of ant that can be found in Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Ukraine, and the Netherlands.
Myrmica rubra, also known as the European fire ant or common red ant, is a species of ant of the genus Myrmica, found all over Europe and in some parts of North America and Asia. It is mainly red in colour, with slightly darker pigmentation on the head. These ants live under stones and fallen trees, and in soil. They are aggressive, often attacking rather than running away, and are equipped with a sting, though they lack the ability to spray formic acid like the genus Formica.
The propodeum or propodium is the first abdominal segment in Apocrita Hymenoptera. It is fused with the thorax to form the mesosoma. It is a single large sclerite, not subdivided, and bears a pair of spiracles. It is strongly constricted posteriorly to form the articulation of the petiole, and gives apocritans their distinctive shape.
As in A. insinuator, reproductives of A. ameliae very much resemble the host species, although with a pronounced reduction in body size. From observations of nuptial flights that occurred in the laboratory, a mating flight is suspected to occur in the wild, but are yet to observed. Alate parasites are found in two different seasons (April and October), unlike the host species, which has only a single synchronized nuptial flight per year in November and December. More than one nuptial flight each year could increase the likelihood of successful invasion of new colonies by A. ameliae. The well-defined nuptial flight of the hosts is normally observed in November and December so that newly fertilized parasite A. ameliae queens (produced in April) can colonize established colonies of A. s. subterraneus and A. s. brunneus well before they reproduce themselves.[ citation needed ]
Generally Alate refers to a winged reproductive caste from a social insect colony in its winged form. Their common behavioural purpose is starting a new colony, to expand their mother colonies etc. Colonies of Termites and Ants produces alates. Also sycamore seeds are alates. It is a flight-based form of reproductive technique.
Like A. insinuator, A. ameliae is one of the rare inquiline parasites that produces workers and resembles its host in morphology, but unlike A. insinuator, A. ameliae queens differ dramatically from their host queen in size. In all colonies of A. subterraneus sampled in A. ameliae range, all of them were parasitized by A. ameliae. Thus, A. ameliae appears to be very common, yet until recently has been overlooked, suggesting the possibility that many other species of social parasites exist that have yet to be identified.[ citation needed ]
As in A. insinuator, A. ameliae produces a workforce that is essential for the production of the parasite alates, but this trait is being selected against over evolutionary time, although it has not yet been lost.[ citation needed ]
