Myrmica

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Myrmica
Myrmica.sp.1.jpg
Myrmica species
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Myrmicini
Genus: Myrmica
Latreille, 1804
Type species
Formica rubra [1]
Diversity
c. 200 species
Synonyms
  • DodecamyrmicaArnol'di, 1968
  • NothomyrmicaWheeler, W.M., 1915
  • ParamyrmicaCole, 1957
  • SifoliniaEmery, 1907
  • SommimyrmaMenozzi, 1925
  • SymbiomyrmaArnol'di, 1930

Myrmica is a genus of ants within the subfamily Myrmicinae. [2] It is widespread throughout the temperate regions of the Holarctic and high mountains in Southeast Asia. [2] [3]

Contents

The genus consists of around 200 known species and additional subspecies, [2] although this figure is likely to rise as soon as the Chinese and Nearctic fauna lists are revised. [4] [5]

Inquilines

The genus contains a number of inquiline species (commensal symbionts), other Myrmica species that manage to invade the nest of their host. Subsequently, they use hormones to manipulate the host colony in such a way that eggs of the host queen develop into workers, and parasite brood into sexuals. Hence, the parasite is not able to sustain a colony of its own, but uses host resources instead. [6] [7]

Similarly, larvae of the butterfly genus Maculinea (a junior synonym of Phengaris , family Lycaenidae) and of the southern armyworm, live inside Myrmica nests where they are either directly fed by ants or prey upon ant brood. This parasitism is employed primarily by specific species such as Phengaris arion forming predatory relationships. [8]

Myrmica species cultivating aphids Formicidae - Myrmica sp. with aphids.JPG
Myrmica species cultivating aphids
Myrmica species workers drinking sugared water Myrmica sp workers drinking sugared water.jpg
Myrmica species workers drinking sugared water

Species

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Formicinae</span> Subfamily of ants

The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrmicinae</span> Subfamily of ants with cosmopolitan distribution whose pupae do not create cocoons

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.

<i>Tapinoma</i> Genus of ants

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<i>Aphaenogaster</i> Genus of ants

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.

<i>Cataglyphis</i> Genus of ants

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.

<i>Crematogaster</i> Genus of ants

Crematogaster is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Members of this genus are also known as cocktail ants because of their habit of raising their abdomens when alarmed. Most species are arboreal (tree-dwelling). These ants are sometimes known as acrobat ants.

<i>Strongylognathus</i> Genus of ants

Strongylognathus is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Many of its species are endemic to specific regions.

<i>Tetramorium</i> Genus of ants

Tetramorium is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae that includes more than 520 species. These ants are also known as pavement ants.

<i>Camponotus vagus</i> Species of carpenter ant

Camponotus vagus is a species of large, black, Palaearctic carpenter ant with a wide range that includes much of Europe, a large area of Asia, and part of Africa.

<i>Aenictus</i> Genus of ants

Aenictus is a large army ant genus distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics. It contains about 181 species, making it one of the larger ant genera of the world.

<i>Anochetus</i> Genus of ants

Anochetus is a genus of small, carnivorous ants found in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world.

<i>Hypoponera</i> Genus of ants

Hypoponera is a genus of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae. The genus has a worldwide distribution and is found in all continents except Antarctica.

<i>Stigmatomma</i> Genus of ants

Stigmatomma is a genus of ants in the subfamily Amblyoponinae. The genus has a worldwide distribution, and like most other amblyoponines, Stigmatomma species are specialized predators. First described by Roger (1859), it was for a long time considered to be a synonym of Amblyopone until it was revived as an independent genus by Yoshimura & Fisher (2012) based on worker mandible morphology.

<i>Stenamma</i> Genus of ants

Stenamma is a genus of cryptic leaf-litter ants that occurs in mesic forest habitats throughout the Holarctic region, Central America, and part of northwestern South America.

<i>Carebara</i> Genus of ants

Carebara is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is one of the largest myrmicine genera with more than 200 species distributed worldwide in the tropics and the Afrotropical region. Many of them are very tiny cryptic soil and leaf-litter inhabitants. They nest in rotten wood to which the bark is still adherent in the Afrotropical region, or may be lestobiotic nesting near other ant species. Some species are known to exist parasitically within termite nests. Little is known about the biology of the genus, but they are notable for the vast difference in size between queens and workers.

<i>Lepisiota</i> Genus of ants

Lepisiota is an Old World genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. They nest in rotten wood, in standing trees or in the ground, generally in less forested areas.

<i>Proformica</i> Genus of ants

Proformica is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from the Palearctic realm, from Mongolia through Central Asia to Spain. Colonies are small, generally containing a few hundred individuals, with a single queen (monogyne) or multiple ergatogyne queens. Unique in the tribe Formicini, some species have specialized workers gorged with food; they function as living storage containers.

<i>Parasyscia</i> Genus of ants

Parasyscia is a genus of ants in the subfamily Dorylinae containing approximately 50 described species. The genus is distributed across the Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Oceania, and Palearctic bioregions. Parasyscia was described by Emery (1882), moved to a subgenus of Cerapachys by Forel (1892) and finally placed as a junior synonym of Cerapachys by Kempf (1972). Parasyscia was resurrected as a valid genus by Borowiec (2016) during the redescription of the doryline genera.

<i>Myrmica salina</i> Species of ant

Myrmica salina is a species of ant belonging to the genus Myrmica. They have a wide distribution in Europe and Siberia, as well as being abundant to several former republics of the Soviet Union, where their preferred habitats are relatively wet halophyte biotopes. Ruzsky first described the first specimen of the species in 1905.

References

  1. Bolton, B. (2015). "Myrmica". AntCat. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 "Genus: Myrmica". antweb.org. AntWeb . Retrieved 13 October 2013.
  3. Fauna europaea
  4. Wei, C.; Zhou, S.-Y.; He, H.; Liu, M.-T. 2001. A taxonomic study of the genus Myrmica Latreille from China. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 26:560-564.
  5. Weber, N. A. 1947 A revision of the North American ants of the genus Myrmica Latreille with a synopsis of the Palearctic species Annals of the Entomological Society of America 40:437-474.
  6. Himender Bharti, Alexander Radchenko, Sishal Sasi Socially-parasitic Myrmica species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Himalaya, with the description of a new species
  7. Jenni Leppänen, Kari Vepsäläinen, and Riitta Savolainen Phylogeography of the ant Myrmica rubra and its inquiline social parasite
  8. Sielezniew, Marcin; Dario Patricelli, Izabela Dziekańska, Francesca Barbero, Simona Bonelli, Luca Pietro Casacci , Magdalena Witek & Emilio Balletto (2010). "The First Record of Myrmica lonae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as a Host of the Socially Parasitic Large Blue Butterfly Phengaris (Maculinea)* arion(Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae)" Sociobiology. 56: 465–475
  9. Bharti, Himender; Sharma, Yash (2011). "Myrmica elmesi (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) a new species from Himalaya". ZooKeys (124): 51–58. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.124.1586 . PMC   3175119 . PMID   21998533.
  10. "Sociobiology: Volume 47, Number 2 and 2A, 2006". www.csuchico.edu. Archived from the original on 2006-06-14.