Berthold Karl HölldoblerBVO is a German zoologist, sociobiologist and evolutionary biologist who studies evolution and social organization in ants. He is the author of several books, including The Ants, for which he and his co-author, E. O. Wilson, received the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction writing in 1991.
Pogonomyrmex barbatus is a species of harvester ant from the genus Pogonomyrmex. Its common names include red ant and red harvester ant. These large ants prefer arid chaparral habitats and are native to the Southwestern United States. Nests are made underground in exposed areas. Their diets consist primarily of seeds, and they consequently participate in myrmecochory, an ant-plant interaction through which the ants gain nutrients and the plants benefit through seed dispersal. Red harvester ants are often mistaken for fire ants, but are not closely related to any fire ant species, native or introduced.
A decentralised system in systems theory is a system in which lower level components operate on local information to accomplish global goals. The global pattern of behaviour is an emergent property of dynamical mechanisms that act upon local components, such as indirect communication, rather than the result of a central ordering influence of a centralised system.
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.
Harvester ant is a common name for any of the species or genera of ants that collect seeds, or mushrooms as in the case of Euprenolepis procera, which are stored in the nest in communal chambers called granaries. They are also referred to as agricultural ants. Seed harvesting by some desert ants is an adaptation to the lack of typical ant resources such as prey or honeydew from hemipterans. Harvester ants increase seed dispersal and protection, and provide nutrients that increase seedling survival of the desert plants. In addition, ants provide soil aeration through the creation of galleries and chambers, mix deep and upper layers of soil, and incorporate organic refuse into the soil.
Deborah M. Gordon is an American biologist best known for her impactful research in the behavioral ecology of ants and her studies on the operations of ant colonies without a central control. In addition to overseeing The Gordon Lab, she is currently a Professor of Biology at Stanford University.
Pogonomyrmex anergismus is a species of workerless inquiline ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae native to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas that parasitizes Pogonomyrmex rugosus and Pogonomyrmex barbatus nests.
Pogonomyrmex colei is a species of workerless inquiline ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae native to California, Nevada, and Arizona that parasitizes Pogonomyrmex rugosus nests.
Pogonomyrmex californicus, or California harvester ant, is a species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is native to North America, where it occurs in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is best known as the ant that is sent out for Uncle Milton's Ant Farm.
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, or the western harvester ant, is a species of ant that inhabits the deserts and arid grasslands of the American West at or below 6,300 feet (1,900 m). Like other harvester ants in the genus Pogonomyrmex, it is so called because of its habit of collecting edible seeds and other food items. The specific epithet "occidentalis", meaning "of the west", refers to the fact that it is characteristic of the interior of the Western United States; its mounds of gravel, surrounded by areas denuded of plant life, are a conspicuous feature of rangeland. When numerous, they may cause such loss of grazing plants and seeds, as to constitute both a severe ecological and economic burden. They have a painful and venomous sting.
Veromessor pergandei is a species of harvester ant native to the Southwestern United States, especially the deserts of southeastern California. It has also been identified in the Baja California peninsula of Mexico. It was first described by Gustav Mayr, who named it Aphaenogaster pergandei. It can also be referred to as a black harvester ant or desert harvester ant, although these common names have also been applied to other species.
Novomessor cockerelli is a species of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is native to the deserts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. It lives in large underground colonies in which there is a single queen. The worker ants leave the nest daily to forage for seeds, plant material and dead insects.
Pogonomyrmex badius, or the Florida harvester ant, is a species of harvester ant in the genus Pogonomyrmex. It is the only Pogonomyrmex species found on the east coast of the United States and the only one in North America known to be polymorphic. The Florida Harvester ant is commonly found in Florida scrub and other similar habitats within the Atlantic coastal plain.
Pogonomyrmex subdentatus is a species of harvester ant native to California, Nevada, and possibly Oregon and Colorado.
Pogonomyrmex bicolor, the bicolored harvester ant, is a species of harvester ant native to Arizona, Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa.
Pogonomyrmex subnitidus is a species of harvester ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae native to California, Baja California, Nevada, Utah, and possibly Arizona, Oklahoma, Nuevo Leon, and New Hampshire.
Camponotus decipiens is a species of carpenter ant native to the eastern United States, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, and possibly Utah, Arizona, Sonora, and California. The specific epithet of the scientific name, decipiens, comes from Latin "dēcipiens", meaning "decieving, cheating, or trapping".
Pogonomyrmex desertorum, the large seed harvesting ant, is a species of harvester ant native to Mexico, the southwestern United States, and possibly Florida and Colorado.
Myrmecicultor is a monotypic genus of North American spiders in the family Myrmecicultoridae. It contains the single species, Myrmecicultor chihuahuensis, and was first described by M. J. Ramírez, C. J. Grismado and D. Ubick in 2019. It is native to the Chihuahuan Desert, from the Big Bend region of Texas to Coahuila and Aguascalientes in Mexico. Collected specimens were found in pitfall traps where three species of harvester ants are most active: Pogonomyrmex rugosus, Novomessor albisetosus, and Novomessor cockerelli.
