Proatta

Proatta
Proatta butteli worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Proatta Forel, 1912
Species:	P. butteli
Binomial name
Proatta butteli Forel, 1912

Proatta is a Southeast Asian genus of myrmicine ants containing the single species Proatta butteli known from the Malay Peninsula, Borneo and Sumatra. ^{[1] [2]}

Biology

Due to morphological similarities with the fungus-growing ants, Emery (1922) placed the genus within the tribe Attini. Weber (1958) attributed the shared similarities to convergent evolution, and Bolton (2003) finally moved the genus to Stenammini. ^[3] Unlike the attines of the New World, Proatta species are predators and scavengers, and while fungus may grow in refuse piles in the nest, the ants do not actively cultivate fungus. ^[2]

References

1. "Genus: Proatta". antweb.org. AntWeb . Retrieved 23 September 2013.
2. Moffett, M. W. (December 1986). "Behavior of the group-predatory ant Proatta butteli (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): an Old World relative of the attine ants". Insectes Sociaux. 33 (4): 444–457. doi:10.1007/bf02223950. S2CID   20738644.
3. Weber, N.A. (1958). "Nomenclatural notes on Proatta and Atta (Hym.: Formicidae)". Entomological News. 69: 7–13.

• Emery, C. (1922). "Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Myrmicinae. [part]." Genera Insectorum174B: 95-206.
• Forel, A. (1912). "Descriptions provisoires de genres, sous-genres, et espèces de Formicides des Indes orientales." Revue suisse de Zoologie 20: 761–774.

External links

• Media related to Proatta at Wikimedia Commons