DOCSLIB.ORG

Distribution, Spread, Activity Patterns, and Foraging Behaviors of the Introduced Ant Pheidole Obscurithorax in the Southeastern United States Shonna R

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Distribution, Spread, Activity Patterns, and Foraging Behaviors of the Introduced Ant Pheidole Obscurithorax in the Southeastern United States Shonna R Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2003 Distribution, Spread, Activity Patterns, and Foraging Behaviors of the Introduced Ant Pheidole Obscurithorax in the Southeastern United States Shonna R. Storz Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES DISTRIBUTION, SPREAD, ACTIVITY PATTERNS, AND FORAGING BEHAVIORS OF THE INTRODUCED ANT PHEIDOLE OBSCURITHORAX IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES By SHONNA R. STORZ A Thesis submitted to the Department of Biological Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2003 The members of the Committee approve the thesis of Shonna R. Storz defended on June 13, 2003 Walter R. Tschinkel Professor Directing Thesis Thomas E. Miller Committee Member Laura R. Keller Committee Member Approved: Thomas M. Roberts, Chairperson, Department of Biological Science Donald Foss, Dean, College of Arts and Science The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii I’d like to dedicate this work to my husband, Brian L. Storz, for his never-ending belief in me and for his ability to always make me laugh. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This study would not have been possible without the support and field assistance of B. L. Storz who spent an immeasurable amount of time with me driving across the southeast and collecting data. I’d like to thank my advisor, W. R. Tschinkel, for his not-so-gentle prodding and demand for progress, countless hours of help on Statistica, comments and suggestions on manuscripts and grants, and for his brilliant insights into what it all means. Thanks to my committee members, T. E. Miller and L. R. Keller for gentle prodding and valuable discussion. Thanks also to T. E. Miller for lending me numerous items from his lab. Thanks to my lab mates, K. L. Haight, A. S. Mikheyev, J. N. Seal, and C. R. Smith, for helpful discussions and assistance, and for making my time spent in the lab enjoyable; they are a great bunch of guys. Thanks to N. Plowes for getting me started with ant identifications and making it seem less daunting. Special thanks to M. Deyrup for assistance with ant species identifications while at the Ant Course; without his help I would likely have taken two more years to complete this research. I am thankful for spending my tenure in graduate school at FSU; my fellow graduate students and the faculty have made my experience very rewarding and enjoyable. FSU undergraduates T. Ballinger, N. Dix, M. Fisher, R. Moore, and T. Rhoades helped with specimen sorting and counting. I appreciate the hard work of two dedicated high school students, M. Ponce and S. Mendenhall, in the FSU Young Scholars Program who helped monitor activity at nests. I thank the more than 86,000 ants who passed from this world in the name of science. This project was iv partially funded by the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund through the American Museum of Natural History and by the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ………………………………………………………………………… vii List of Figures ………………………………………………………………………... viii Abstract ………………………………………………………………………... x INTRODUCTION ..……………………………………………………………………… 1 1. DISTRIBUTION, SPREAD, AND ECOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS OF THE INTRODUCED ANT PHEIDOLE OBSCURITHORAX NAVES IN THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES ….………………………………………….... 3 2. ACTIVITY RHYTHMS AND FORAGING TACTICS OF THE INTRODUCED ANT PHEIDOLE OBSCURITHORAX NAVES ………………….………………….. 24 CONCLUSION …………………………………………..……………………………… 46 APPENDICES …….…………………………………………………………….……..… 48 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………… 53 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ……………………………………………………………… 59 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1 Site characteristics at sites with P. obscurithorax present and absent ……… 11 Table 1.2 Mann-Whitney U tests of the abundances of the six most common ant species at sites with P. obscurithorax present and absent …………………………..… 13 Table 1.3 Spearman rank order correlations of the abundances of the six most common ant species and P. obscurithorax nest density ……………………………… 13 Table 2.1 Means and 95% confidence intervals for the activities represented in figure 2.6. ……………………………………………………………………………… 34 Table 2.2 Repeated measures ANOVA table for foraging activity vs. bait type ..……. 38 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Pheidole obscurithorax nest densities at each site plotted on a map of the southeastern United States …………………………………………………………….. 10 Figure 1.2 Collection frequencies of 19 bait-collected ant species …………………… 12 Figure 1.3 Rarefaction curve for southeast survey …………………………………… 14 Figure 1.4 Frequency of 26 ant species collected in pitfall traps …………………….. 15 Figure 1.5 Rarefaction curves for pitfall-trap study ………………………………….. 16 Figure 1.6 Relationship between Pheidole obscurithorax nest densities measured at 21 sites in Tallahassee in two years ………………………………………………… 17 Figure 1.7 Pheidole obscurithorax presence at each of 21 sites in Tallahassee, Florida, in two years …………………………………………………………………… 18 Figure 1.8 Pheidole obscurithorax nest densities at 21 sites in Tallahassee, Florida, in June 2002 …………………………………………………...………………….….. 19 Figure 2.1 Relationship between numbers of outbound and inbound foragers counted for two minutes ……………………………………………………………….. 28 Figure 2.2 Relationship between numbers of outbound and inbound nest-surface tenders counted for two minutes …………………………………………………….… 29 Figure 2.3 Relationship between total nest-surface tenders (outbound plus inbound nest-surface tenders) and total foragers (outbound plus inbound foragers) counted for two minutes ……………………………………………………………………..… 29 Figure 2.4 Relationships between time of day and ground temperature, total numbers of scouts, total numbers of foragers, and total numbers of nest-surface tenders …….. 31 Figure 2.5 Relationships between temperature and total numbers of scouts, total numbers of foragers, and total numbers of nest-surface tenders ……………………... 32 viii Figure 2.6 Relationship between time and ground temperature for each of three non-consecutive days of observation ……………………………………………..…… 33 Figure 2.7 Activity levels during three time periods plotted for each of three days …. 34 Figure 2.8 Proportions of workers that are minors performing three tasks ……..……. 35 Figure 2.9 Relationships between nest size and total numbers of scouts, total numbers of foragers, and total numbers of nest-surface tenders ………………..…….. 36 Figure 2.10 Typical relationship between time and the numbers of minors recruited to a bait counted during 10-second intervals ……………………………………..…… 37 Figure 2.11 Relationships between bait type (sm = small, lg = large, and lgst = large staked) and (a) time to remove bait (small and large only), (b) numbers of minors at the bait, and (c) numbers of majors at the bait ……………………..……. 40 ix ABSTRACT A field survey of the southeastern United States showed that Pheidole obscurithorax Naves, an ant introduced from South America, inhabits a 50-mile-wide band along the coast between Mobile, Alabama, and Tallahassee, Florida, and is continuing to increase its range. Evidence suggests that P. obscurithorax has spread mostly by diffusion by natural means. It coexists with the fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren, appears to be part of a largely exotic community of ants that are tolerant of highly disturbed habitats, and seems to have little negative effect on the ant communities that it invades. In Tallahassee P. obscurithorax is rapidly spreading, and its nest density increased by a factor of 6.4 over a two-year period. P. obscurithorax summer activity patterns appear to be regulated by time of day rather than by temperature, but they do not appear to be active above ground at temperatures over 36˚C. Evidence suggests that foragers and nest-surface tenders are two separate populations and their activity is shifted in time relative to each other. The group prey retrieval tactics of P. obscurithorax related to prey size and mobility do not conform to predictions of central place foraging theory. x INTRODUCTION Natural ecosystems are disappearing at increasing rates, largely as a result of human disturbance. Along with the decline in natural habitats comes an increase in the amount of disturbed habitat such as open fields, urban areas, and roadsides. Documenting the communities that inhabit these ever increasing disturbed areas is an important step for conservation efforts. Human activity is also increasing the transfer rate of exotic species across the globe. Introduced species are often associated with disturbed habitat (Elton, 1958; Case, 1996), and many introduced species are thought to have negative effects on the communities that they invade. Invasion biology has historically focused on identifying common characteristics of highly invadable habitats as well as of successful invasive species in order to predict the outcome of invasions (Mooney and Drake, 1986; Vinson, 1986; Drake et al., 1989; Williams, 1994; Kareiva, 1996; Simberloff et al., 1997). While there has been progress in these areas, most research has focused on a small subset of introduced species. In order to better understand what characteristics make an invader successful, it is important to study a multitude of introduced species for comparisons. The ant, Pheidole obscurithorax, was introduced to the southeastern United States over 50 years ago (Naves 1985).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Survey of Formicidae Attracted to Protein Baits on Georgia's Barrier
    20182018 SOUTHEASTERNSoutheastern NaturalistNATURALIST 17(4):645–653Vol. 17, No. 4 C.A. Braman and B.T. Forschler Survey of Formicidae Attracted to Protein Baits on Georgia’s Barrier Island Dunes Charles A. Braman1,* and Brian T. Forschler1 Abstract - Although insects have been identified as valuable bioindicator species, insect diversity in coastal sand dunes is understudied. Our study presents the first survey focused on Georgia’s barrier island ant assemblage. We surveyed the primary and secondary dunes of Cumberland, Little St. Simons, and Sapelo islands in the summers of 2016 and 2017 using protein baits to recruit scavenging ants that forage on dunes and beaches. We placed 4863 baits over the 2 sampling seasons; 2458 recruited ants. We documented 29 ant species, including 3 new records for the state: Dorymyrmex reginicula, Pheidole navigans, and Sole- nopsis globularia. Our survey provides a baseline for future projects to evaluate disturbance and ecosystem health on Georgia’s barrier islands. Introduction Insects, generally, and ants, specifically, have been understudied on coastal san- dy dunes and beaches. As recently as 1990, textbooks on coastal systems mention that insects fail to establish viable populations on beaches (Brown and McLachlan 1990). Research has, however, shown that beetles (Colombini et al. 2017) and ants (Chen et al. 2015) are capable of dwelling in both beach and dune habitats (Barboza et al. 2012). Insects have been suggested as bioindicators in coastal eco- systems (Gonzalez et al. 2014), particularly ants (Chen et al. 2015, Larrea et al. 2016), because they display microhabitat specialization and are easily collected with minimal ecological impact.
    [Show full text]
  • Body Size, Colony Size, Abundance, and Ecological Impact of Exotic Ants in Florida’S Upland Ecosystems
    Evolutionary Ecology Research, 2007, 9: 757–774 Body size, colony size, abundance, and ecological impact of exotic ants in Florida’s upland ecosystems Joshua R. King1,2* and Sanford D. Porter2 1Entomology and Nematology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL and 2Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, USDA-ARS, Gainesville, FL, USA ABSTRACT Questions: Do naturalized exotic ant species have larger colonies and smaller workers relative to co-occurring native species? Do exotic ant species have a negative impact on the co-occurring ant and arthropod fauna in undisturbed native upland ecosystems? Study system: Native and exotic ants sampled from four kinds of native upland ecosystems and one kind of disturbed ecosystem (fields) in north-central Florida. This fauna included a total of 94 species, 13 of which are exotic, from five different ecosystems. Methods: Ants were intensively surveyed using a transect-based sampling design and four sampling methods (pitfalls, litter samples, baits, and hand collecting). We estimated average worker body weight and average colony size for all of the species, together with the relative abundance and species richness of native, exotic, and endemic species within ecosystems. Results: The average body size of exotic ants was not obviously different from that of native species. The average colony size of exotic ants was smaller than that of native species, with the exception of Solenopsis invicta, which had the largest colony size of all species. Introduced ants (including S. invicta) were neither speciose nor abundant in any of the native woodland ecosystems. In contrast, in disturbed sites exotic ants accounted for about 40% of total ant abundance and 25% of species richness.
    [Show full text]
  • Conservation Biocontrol of the Coffee Berry Borer in Coffee Farms Through Ant Predation by Jannice Newson
    1 Conservation biocontrol of the coffee berry borer in coffee farms through ant predation By Jannice Newson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (Conservation Ecology) School for Environment and Sustainability University of Michigan, Ann Arbor May 1st, 2020 Masters Committee: Professor Ivette Perfecto, Primary Advisor Professor John Vandermeer, Secondary Advisor 2 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank Ivette and John for supporting me through the process of field work and completion of this project. I thank Zachary Hajian-Forooshani and Chatura Vaidya for their assistance in my project development. I thank all other members of Ivette Perfecto’s and John Vandermeer’s lab, staff at Gran Batey and la Finca de Raul Toledo, and the field work team in Puerto Rico. I thank Meaghan Pearson for her continued friendship and support throughout the course of this project. This work was supported by the Rackham Graduate Student Research Grant, the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Fantasy in Pink Scholarship, and the School of Environment and Sustainability Research Grant. Lastly, and most importantly, I would like to thank my mother Brenda Paige for being a source of love and comfort person to me through this entire process. 3 Table of Contents 1. Abstract 2. Introduction a. Introduction to agro-ecosystems b. Coffee agro-ecosystem c. Pests in the coffee agro-ecosystem d. Hypothenemus hampei, Scolytidae: coffee berry borer e. Controlling the coffee berry borer f. Coffee berry borer in Puerto Rican coffee-agroecosystems g. Research questions 3. Methods a. Study area b.
    [Show full text]
  • Two New Exotic Pest Ants Pseudomyrmex Gracilis And
    Midsouth Entomologist 3: 106–109 ISSN: 1936-6019 www.midsouthentomologist.org.msstate.edu Report Two New Exotic Pest Ants, Pseudomyrmex gracilis and Monomorium floricola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Collected in Mississippi MacGown, J. A.* and J. G. Hill Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762 *Corresponding Author: [email protected] Received: 26-VII-2010 Accepted: 28-VII-2010 Here we report collections of two new exotic pest ants, Pseudomyrmex gracilis (F) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Pseudomyrmicinae) and Monomorium floricola (Jerdon) (Myrmicinae), from Mississippi. We collected specimens of these two species on Sabal palm (Sabal sp., Arecaceae) on 20 May 2010 at an outdoor nursery specializing in palm trees in Gulfport, Harrison County, Mississippi (30°23'47"N 89°05'33W). Both species of ants were collected on the same individual tree, which was planted directly in the soil. Several workers of Monomorium were observed and collected, but only one worker of the Pseudomyrmex was collected. No colonies of either species were discovered, but our reluctance to damage the palm by searching for colonies prevented a more thorough search. Palms at this nursery were imported from Florida, and it is therefore possible that the ants were inadvertently introduced with the plants, as both of these species are known to occur in Florida (Deyrup et al. 2000). The Mexican twig or elongate twig ant, P. gracilis (Figure 1) has a widespread distribution from Argentina and Brazil to southern Texas and the Caribbean (Ward 1993, Wetterer and Wetterer 2003). This species is exotic elsewhere in the United States, only being reported from Florida, Hawaii, and Louisiana.
    [Show full text]
  • Ant Tending of Miami Blue Butterfly Larvae (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae): Partner Diversity and Effects on Larval Performance
    474 Florida Entomologist 92(3) September 2009 ANT TENDING OF MIAMI BLUE BUTTERFLY LARVAE (LEPIDOPTERA: LYCAENIDAE): PARTNER DIVERSITY AND EFFECTS ON LARVAL PERFORMANCE MATTHEW D. TRAGER1,2 AND JARET C. DANIELS1,2 1Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 2McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 ABSTRACT The larvae of many lycaenid butterflies (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) are tended by ants that protect them from natural enemies in return for sugar-rich secretions that the larvae pro- duce to attract and retain their ant guards. We investigated the relationship between larvae of the endangered Miami blue butterfly (Cyclargus thomasi bethunebakeri Comstock & Hun- tington) and potentially mutualistic ants. We observed 10 ant species interacting with Mi- ami blue larvae in the field, and raised larvae successfully in captivity with 3 of these and 6 other ant species that are not known to tend larvae in the wild. In an experimental assess- ment of ant effects on larval performance, we found no differences in age at pupation, pupal mass, length of pupation, total time as an immature or ratio of time as a larva to time as a pupa among larvae raised with Camponotus floridanus Buckley, Linepithema humile Mayr, or in a no-ant control. Larvae raised with C. floridanus were significantly more likely to pu- pate in the ant harborage than larvae in the other treatments. We did not observe ants be- having antagonistically toward Miami blue larvae in field, laboratory, or experimental conditions; even ant species previously identified as potential predators tended larvae.
    [Show full text]
  • Print This Article
    Sociobiology 68(2): e6725 (June, 2021) DOI: 10.13102/sociobiology.v68i2.6725 Sociobiology An international journal on social insects ReSearch ARtICle - AntS Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Saint Vincent, West Indies James Kelly Wetterer Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, Florida, USA Article History Abstract The ants of Saint Vincent have long been one of the most thoroughly Edited by documented ant faunas of any Caribbean island. Ant specimens collected more Jacques Delabie, UESC, Brazil Received 12 March 2021 than 100 years ago on St. Vincent include 76 valid taxa. In ten days surveying Initial acceptance 12 April 2021 ants on Saint Vincent, I found eleven species not found by previous researchers. Final acceptance 22 April 2021 Eight are widespread Neotropical species (Anochetus inermis, Camponotus Publication date 17 June 2021 claviscapus, Cyphomyrmex minutus, Odontomachus ruginodis, Pheidole exigua, Pheidole moerens, Rogeria curvipubens, Solenopsis corticalis) and three are Old Keywords World exotics (Cardiocondyla minutior, Syllophopsis sechellensis, Trichomyrmex Ants; biogeography; exotic species; island biogeography; West Indies. destructor). Ant records from St. Vincent include more Neotropical species (72) and fewer Old World exotic species (15) than the neighboring Caribbean islands Corresponding author of similar size: Barbados and Grenada. Factors that may contribute to this James Kelly Wetterer pattern are that, compared to Barbados and Grenada, Saint Vincent has more Florida Atlantic University mountainous terrain, more intact forest, lower human population density, and Jupiter, Florida, USA. fewer international tourist visits. E-Mail: [email protected] Introduction species, largely thanks to the fieldwork of Herbert Huntington Smith (1851–1919), an American naturalist who made Many factors have shaped the biota of West Indian extensive ant collections on St.
    [Show full text]
  • Ant Community Change Across a Ground Vegetation Gradient in North Florida’S Insect Longleaf Pine Flatwoods
    Journal of Lubertazzi D, Tschinkel WR. 2003. Ant community change across a ground vegetation gradient in north Florida’s Insect longleaf pine flatwoods. 17pp. Journal of Insect Science, 3:21, Available online: insectscience.org/3.21 Science insectscience.org Ant community change across a ground vegetation gradient in north Florida’s longleaf pine flatwoods David Lubertazzi1 and Walter R. Tschinkel2 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, The University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-3043 2 Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306-4370 [email protected] Received 14 January 2003, Accepted 12 June 2003, Published 24 July 2003 Abstract Ant communities in longleaf pine habitats are poorly known and hence the naturally occurring ant assemblages of a large portion of southeastern North America are not well understood. This study examined the diverse ant community found in the longleaf pine flatwoods of north Florida and tested how ant diversity changes along a herbaceous ground cover gradient. Restoring the ground cover to its original floral composition is an important focus of longleaf pine conservation and hence it is important to understand how native faunal communities vary with ground cover variation. Using 4 sampling methods, we characterized the ant community and analyzed its within- habitat variation among 12 study sites. We found the highest plot species richness (55 species) and within-habitat species richness (72 species) ever recorded for North American ants. The ants formed three distinct communities. The low-diversity arboreal and subterranean assemblages varied little across forest stands while the diversity of the species-rich ground foraging ant community was negatively correlated with percent herbaceous cover.
    [Show full text]
  • Zootaxa, Hymneoptera, Formicidae
    ZOOTAXA 936 A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) PHILIP S. WARD Magnolia Press Auckland, New Zealand PHILIP S. WARD A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (Zootaxa 936) 68 pp.; 30 cm. 12 Apr. 2005 ISBN 1-877354-98-8 (paperback) ISBN 1-877354-99-6 (Online edition) FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2005 BY Magnolia Press P.O. Box 41383 Auckland 1030 New Zealand e-mail: [email protected] http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ © 2005 Magnolia Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored, transmitted or disseminated, in any form, or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher, to whom all requests to reproduce copyright material should be directed in writing. This authorization does not extend to any other kind of copying, by any means, in any form, and for any purpose other than private research use. ISSN 1175-5326 (Print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (Online edition) Zootaxa 936: 1–68 (2005) ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) www.mapress.com/zootaxa/ ZOOTAXA 936 Copyright © 2005 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) PHILIP S. WARD Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA; [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT . 4 INTRODUCTION . 5 MATERIALS AND METHODS . 6 GENERAL FEATURES OF THE CALIFORNIA ANT FAUNA . 7 TAXONOMIC CHANGES . 8 Subfamily Dolichoderinae . 9 Genus Forelius Mayr . 9 Subfamily Formicinae . 10 Genus Camponotus Mayr . 10 Genus Lasius Fabricius . 13 Subfamily Myrmicinae . 13 Genus Leptothorax Mayr . 13 Genus Monomorium Mayr .
    [Show full text]
  • High Diversity in an Urban Habitat: Are Some Animal Assemblages Resilient to Long-Term Anthropogenic Change?
    Urban Ecosyst DOI 10.1007/s11252-014-0406-8 High diversity in an urban habitat: are some animal assemblages resilient to long-term anthropogenic change? Benoit Guénard & Adrianna Cardinal-De Casas & Robert R. Dunn # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014 Abstract Urbanization is thought to lead to the loss of biodiversity both because of habitat disturbance and the increased abundance of invasive species. However, most studies of biodiversity in cities are conducted on a short time scale, usually less than 3 years, and so miss the long-term dynamics of communities inhabiting these ecosystems. Here we use a study performed in the early 70’s on North Carolina State University (Raleigh, USA) as a baseline to evaluate the long term effects of disturbance and introduced species on native ant communi- ties. Ant species were sampled almost 40 years later using a variety of sampling techniques in order to maximize species collection. Our results show that while the number of exotic species increased, including three major invasive ants, native ant species richness remained high. Furthermore, our survey was able to add several new records for the area considered, in comparison of the 70’s study, for a total of 89 species known from NCSU campus. After comparison with other studies, our results represent one of the most species-rich urban environments monitored and thus open encouraging perspective on how urban ecosystems could contribute to the preservation of the biodiversity of small-bodies organisms such as ants. Keywords Urban ecosystem . Long term study. Formicidae . Disturbance . Invasive species Introduction Over the past decades the number and size of cities continuously increased (Seto et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Big Thicket Region of Texas
    Midsouth Entomologist 8: 24-34 ISSN: 1936-6019 www.midsouthentomologist.org.msstate.edu Report Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Big Thicket Region of Texas Hill, J. G. Mississippi Entomological Museum, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, Box 9775, Mississippi State, MS 39762. Corresponding author email: [email protected] Received: 11-XI-2014 Accepted: 20-I-2015 Abstract: Based on literature records and recent collections, a list of 65 species of ants in the Big Thicket region of Texas is presented. Three new state records for Texas were documented during this survey including Aphaenogaster miamiana Wheeler, Dolichoderus pustulatus Mayr, and Strumigenys angulata Smith. Nine exotic species of ants were documented in the region with three species (Brachymyrmex patagonicus Mayr, Solenopsis invicta Buren, and Pheidole moerens Wheeler) being pervasive. Key Words: Big Thicket, Ants, Texas, species list Introduction The Big Thicket region of Texas is a southerly tilted topographical basin bounded between the Trinity and Sabine rivers in southeastern Texas (Watson 2006). (Figure 1). The Big Thicket has been called “the biological crossroads of North America" as species from the east and west occur relatively near each other within a mosaic of habitats such as arid sandylands, bottomland hardwood forests and cypress sloughs, palmetto hardwood flats, wetland pine savannahs, upland pine forests, and mixed grass prairies (NPS 2010). More than 1,396 species of plants, 185 species of birds, and 60 reptile species have been documented within the Big Thicket (Big Thicket Association 2014). Since the 1930's the Thicket has had a very active army of citizen scientists who have fought for the conservation of the region's biota.
    [Show full text]
  • Tlrn Journal of Agriculture of Tnuniversitj of Puerto Rico
    TlrnJournal ofAgriculture oftne UniversitJ ofPuerto Rico In continuationof The Journal of theDepartment of Agriculture of Puerto Rico PublishedQuarterly ; January,Apr il, Julyand Ocl(l.be r of eachyear MELV I LLE T. C OO K . E DI TOR VOL. XX OCTOBER 1936 . No. 4 THE ANTS OF PUERTO RICO BY M. R. SMITH, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarant ine, United States Departm11nt of Agriculture. For appr oximately one year, from Ju ly 19~5 to early June 1936, the writer was stat ioned in Puerto Rico in connection with investigations of insect pests of Puerto Rico conducted with special fu nds ava ilable to the Bureau of Entomo logy and Pl ant Quarantine. His particular assignment was to investi­ gate insects at tacking coff ee, especia lly with ref erence to the relation ship betwe en ants and certa in mealybugs and scale in­ sects attacking coffee. In connection with the ant phase of the coffee insect prob lem in Puerto Rico, opportunit y was given for trave l over the islan d and , inciden ta l to these investigations relating to coffee insects, the writer made a rather exten siwe collection of the ants that .ar e found in Puerto Rico and obser v­ at ions concern ing th eir occur re nce. The first serie s of speci­ mens of each spe1;ies is deposit ed in the collection of the U. S. National Museum, an d duplicat es will be deposited in other collections. Ver y litt le was known about the ant fauna of Puerto Rico until March 1908.
    [Show full text]
  • Species Diversity and Biogeography of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Louisiana with Notes on Their Ecology Shawn T
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2004 Species diversity and biogeography of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Louisiana with notes on their ecology Shawn T. Dash Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Dash, Shawn T., "Species diversity and biogeography of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Louisiana with notes on their ecology" (2004). LSU Master's Theses. 2215. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/2215 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SPECIES DIVERSITY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF ANTS (HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE) IN LOUISIANA, WITH NOTES ON THEIR ECOLOGY A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science In The Department of Entomology by Shawn T. Dash B.S., University of Delaware, 2002 December 2004 Dedication This work is dedicated to my mother, who got up before dawn to take me bird watching when I was young, who “allowed” me to use the bathtub for my turtles, who never minded hundreds of bottles and cans of insects in the freezer. Two other people share responsibility for who I am today, and I dedicate this work to them as well.
    [Show full text]