| Perissomyrmex | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Perissomyrmex snyderi worker | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Crematogastrini |
| Genus: | Perissomyrmex Smith, 1947 |
| Type species | |
| Perissomyrmex snyderi Smith, 1947 | |
| Diversity [1] | |
| 6 species | |
Perissomyrmex is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. [2] It is known from the Neotropical and Oriental realms. [3]
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The genus was first described in 1947 from two workers discovered in Hoboken plant quarantine in New Jersey, United States. The ants were found in the root of a Begonia plant that had been shipped from Guatemala. [4] Due to the genus' close affinities to the exclusively Old World genus Pristomyrmex , it was thought that the ants had been brought to the US via Guatemala from the Oriental or the Indo-Australian regions. However, with the later rediscovery of Perissomyrmex in Central America, the disjunct distribution could be confirmed. [3]
