| Dorylus gribodoi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| D. gribodoi worker from the Ivory Coast | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Genus: | Dorylus |
| Species: | D. gribodoi |
| Binomial name | |
| Dorylus gribodoi Emery, 1892 | |
| Synonyms | |
Dorylus gribodoi is a West African species of army ants in the genus Dorylus . [2]
The species occurs in West Africa, from Guinea and Liberia to Cameroon. [3] It is restricted to humid habitats such as rainforest and gallery forest in mixed savanna–forest landscapes and occurs at least up to 1600 m above sea level. [4]
Raids are conducted in the leaf-litter stratum. Workers retreat in tunnels when disturbed or exposed to sun. Limited observations indicate that the species seems to prey almost exclusively on earthworms, but this information has to be viewed with caution since variation in prey composition can be considerable in other Dorylus species. Chimpanzees are known to feed on D. gribodoi at two sites (Bossou in Guinea and Taï in Ivory Coast); they either use sticks to "dip" for ant workers at trails or nests or open nests and take brood and workers with their hands. [6] Nests are much less conspicuous than those of driver ant species and extremely difficult to find (for humans; chimpanzees seem to do much better). D. emeryi is broadly sympatric with D. gribodoi and has nearly identical hunting behavior and habitat requirements, such that the two species may be easily confused in the field. The largest workers of D. emeryi are much larger. [4]
The diagnostic features of the D. gribodoi male are its mandible shape (the anterior quarter notably flexed inward) and the nearly flat posterior head margin. In the original description Emery compared D. gribodoi with D. atratus and stated that D. atratus was darker than D. gribodoi and that its scape was longer than half the length of the funiculus. Both Smith (1859) in the original description and later Santschi (1914) mentioned that the posterior head margin of the D. atratus male was convex. While the colouration of D. gribodoi is variable, it is not uniformly black in any of the specimens examined by us and the head shape is nearly rectangular with a flat posterior margin. Workers of D. gribodoi are unique (and easily identifiable) among all Dorylus species in having a nearly round petiole in dorsal view and a distinct ridge on the posterior head margin that is laterally developed into tiny horns in larger specimens. D. gribodoi workers of the same size class can be separated from workers of the D. kohli / D. congolensis complex also by the posterior margin of the head being angular in lateral view and not smoothly rounded. [7]
Larger D. emeryi workers can be separated from D. gribodoi workers of the same size class by the following features: posterior angles of head drawn out backwards and ventrally, petiole in dorsal view angled at widest point, petiole has several conspicuous erect setae on dorsal surface (which are lacking in D. gribodoi), largest workers have massive heads with width ≤ 3.92 mm. The unique petiole shape of D. gribodoi was recognized by Emery in his original description of D. gerstaeckeri (Emery 1895) and also by Bernard (1952) who described D. lamottei based on workers collected at Mount Nimba in Guinea but failed to realize that these specimens were in fact conspecific with Emery’s D. gerstaeckeri. Bernard (1953) also identified males taken from the same location as D. gribodoi, but the association between these males and his D. lamottei workers necessarily remained unknown to him. [8]
The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development.
Ponerinae is a subfamily of ants in the Poneromorph subfamilies group, with about 1,600 species in 47 extant genera, including Dinoponera gigantea - one of the world's largest species of ant. Mated workers have replaced the queen as the functional egg-layers in several species of ponerine ants. In such queenless species, the reproductive status of workers can only be determined through ovarian dissections.
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.
Pogonomyrmex is a genus of harvester ants, occurring primarily in the deserts of North, Central, and South America, with a single endemic species from Haiti.
Dorylus, also known as driver ants, safari ants, or siafu, is a large genus of army ants found primarily in central and east Africa, although the range also extends to southern Africa and tropical Asia. The term siafu is a loanword from Swahili, and is one of numerous similar words from regional Bantu languages used by indigenous peoples to describe various species of these ants. Unlike the New World members of the former subfamily Ecitoninae, members of this genus form temporary subterranean bivouacs in underground cavities which they excavate and inhabit - either for a few days or up to three months. Also unlike some New World army ants, driver ants are not specialized predators of other species of ant, instead being more generalistic with a diet consisting of a diversity of arthropods. Colonies are enormous compared to other army ants and can contain over 20 million individuals. As with their American counterparts, workers exhibit caste polymorphism with the soldiers having particularly large heads that power their scissor-like mandibles. They are capable of stinging, but very rarely do so, relying instead on their powerful shearing jaws. Driver ant queens are the largest living ants known, with the largest measuring between 40 - 63 millimeters in total body length depending on their physiological condition.
The name army ant (or legionary ant or marabunta) is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited area.
Leptomyrmex, or spider ants, is a genus of ants and a distinctive member of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae. Commonly known as "spider ants" for their long legs and spider-like movements, these orange and black ants are prominent residents of intact wet forest and sclerophyll habitats throughout their range. One extant species, Leptomyrmex relictus, is known from central Brazil; otherwise, the global distribution of this genus is restricted to eastern Australia, New Caledonia and New Guinea, as well as the nearby Indonesian islands of Aru and Seram.
Cataglyphis is a genus of ant, desert ants, in the subfamily Formicinae. Its most famous species is C. bicolor, the Sahara Desert ant, which runs on hot sand to find insects that died of heat exhaustion, and can, like other several other Cataglyphis species, sustain body temperatures up to 50°C. Cataglyphis is also the name of an autonomous rover that won the NASA Sample Return Robot Centennial Challenge inspired by the navigation approaches used by desert ants.
Megalomyrmex is a genus of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The genus is known only from the Neotropics, where some of the species are specialized parasites or predators of Attini.
Tetramorium is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae that includes more than 520 species. These ants are also known as pavement ants.
Carebara diversa, is a species of marauder ant widely distributed throughout Asia.
Amblyoponinae is a subfamily of ants in the poneromorph subfamilies group containing 13 extant genera and one extinct genus. The ants in this subfamily are mostly specialized subterranean predators. Adult workers pierce the integument of their larvae and pupa to imbibe haemolymph, earning them the common name Dracula ant.
Agroecomyrmecinae is a subfamily of ants containing two extant and two fossil genera. The subfamily was originally classified in 1930 by Carpenter as Agroecomyrmecini, a Myrmicinae tribe. Bolton raised the tribe to subfamily status in 2003, suggesting that Agroecomyrmecinae might be the sister taxon to Myrmicinae. It has since been discovered to be one of the earliest lineages of ants, a clade from the basal polytomy for all ants. In 2014, the subfamily was expanded to two tribes. The tribe Ankylomyrmini was moved from the subfamily Myrmicinae to Agroemyrmecinae.
Melissotarsus is a rare African genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. They are known from the Afrotropics and Malagasy regions, where their nests are located in living wood, built by tunneling through the wood under the bark. They are rarely seen outside of their nests, which may contribute to their perceived rarity. However, they are considered pest insects because of damage they can cause to trees, including economically important ones such as mangos and trees in the family Burseraceae, including Aucoumea klaineana, Dacryodes buettneri, and Dacryodes edulis.
Meranoplus is an Old World genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. With over 80 valid species, it is predicted that over half of the Meranoplus diversity remains undescribed, most of these from Australia.
Asphinctopone is a small genus of rarely encountered Afrotropical ants in the subfamily Ponerinae.
Daceton boltoni is a Neotropical species of arboreal ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The species occurs in Peru and Brazil and is similar to its sister species, D. armigerum.
Daceton armigerum is a Neotropical species of arboreal ants, distributed throughout northern South America. D. armigerum combines several traits generally noted in some other arboreal ants i.e., populous colonies, large and/or polydomous nests, intra- and interspecific aggressiveness, trophobiosis, and capturing prey by spread-eagling them.
Emplastus is an extinct morphogenus of ants in the subfamily Dolichoderinae, known from fossils found in Asia and Europe. The genus contains twelve species described from sites in England, Eastern Europe and Far Eastern Russia.
Camponotus sexguttatus is a species of ant in the family Formicidae.
Media related to Dorylus gribodoi at Wikimedia Commons
This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: Schöning, Caspar; Gottwald, William H.; Kronauer, Daniel J.C.; Vilhelmsen, Lars (2008), "Taxonomy of the African army ant Dorylus gribodoi Emery, 1892 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) — new insights from DNA sequence data and morphology." (PDF), Zootaxa , 1749: 39–52, doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1749.1.4 Please check the source for the exact licensing terms.