Myrmecology is a branch of entomology focusing on the scientific study of ants. Some early myrmecologists considered ant society as the ideal form of society and sought to find solutions to human problems by studying them. Ants continue to be a model of choice for the study of questions on the evolution of social systems because of their complex and varied forms of eusociality. Their diversity and prominence in ecosystems also has made them important components in the study of biodiversity and conservation. Recently, ant colonies are also studied and modeled for their relevance in machine learning, complex interactive networks, stochasticity of encounter and interaction networks, parallel computing, and other computing fields.
The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ants:
Dolichoderinae is a subfamily of ants, which includes species such as the Argentine ant, the erratic ant, the odorous house ant, and the cone ant. The subfamily presents a great diversity of species throughout the world, distributed in different biogeographic regions, from the Palearctic, Nearctic, Afrotropical region and Malaysia, to the Middle East, Australian, and Neotropical regions.
Omphalocarpum is a genus of plants belonging to the family Sapotaceae. It was first described in 1800 by Palisot de Beauvois. The genus is endemic to tropical Africa.
Aphaenogaster is a genus of myrmicine ants. About 200 species have been described, including 18 fossil species. They occur worldwide except in South America south of Colombia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Antarctica.
Trophobiosis is a symbiotic association between organisms where food is obtained or provided. The provider of food in the association is referred to as a trophobiont. The name is derived from the Greek τροφή trophē, meaning "nourishment" and -βίωσις -biosis which is short for the English symbiosis.
Acropyga is a genus of small formicine ants. Some species can be indirect pests. A. acutiventris, which is found from India to Australia, tends subterranean, root-feeding mealybugs of the species Xenococcus annandalei. Living, gravid females are carried in the jaws of A. acutiventris queens during their nuptial flight, to establish the symbiotic association in founding colonies. Other Acropyga species have relationships with different species of mealybugs, and it could be a trait common to the whole genus.
Joseph Charles Bequaert was an American naturalist of Belgian origin, born 24 May 1886 in Torhout (Belgium) and died on 12 January 1982 in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Pheidologeton diversus, also known as Carebara diversa, is a species of marauder ant widely distributed throughout Asia.
Nothomicrodon aztecarum is a species of Neotropical flies, originally described from a larva collected in 1924 from a carton nest of the ant Azteca trigona. It is the only species in the genus Nothomicrodon, but shows none of the features of a hoverfly larva, the family in which it was originally classified, and instead belongs in the family Phoridae.
A. silvestrii may refer to:
William Montana Mann (1886–1960) was an American entomologist and the fifth director of the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. from 1925 until 1956. In 1921, he traveled on the Mulford Expedition to the Amazon. In 1926, he married Lucile Quarry Mann. The two worked together as a team to improve and promote the zoo, including going on expeditions around the world to collect live specimens for the zoo's collection. He graduated from Washington State University and Harvard University.
Nylanderia is a large genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution with species inhabiting a wide array of habitats in almost all geographic regions. Nylanderia, currently containing over 110 species, is an ecologically important genus, with some species reported as being invasive. The ants are small to medium in size and range in color from pale yellow to black.
Gesomyrmex is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus contains six extant species, known from the Indomalayan region, and nine fossil species. Of the extant species, four are known only from workers and two only from females. The extinct species "G. expectans" and "G. miegi", formerly placed in the genus, were excluded by Dlussky et al.., 2009.
Formicodiplogaster is an extinct form genus of nematodes in the family Diplogasteridae which currently includes a single described species Formicodiplogaster myrmenema. The species is known from early Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. F. myrmenema has been preserved in association with Azteca alpha, one of only two species in the ant genus Azteca.
Azteca alpha is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Dolichoderinae known from possibly Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. A. alpha is one of only two species in the genus Azteca to have been described from fossils, both found in Dominican amber. It is the host for a fossil nematode, and has been preserved with scale insects.
Azteca eumeces is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Dolichoderinae known from possibly Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. A. eumeces is one of only two species in the ant genus Azteca to have been described from fossils, both found in Dominican amber.
Azteca australis is a species of ant in the genus Azteca. Described by Wheeler in 1942, the species is endemic to various countries in South America.
