ZooKeys 670: Revision of the Fungus-Farming Ant Genus Sericomyrmex Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae)

About this book

The Neotropical ant genus Sericomyrmex is revised, based on over 1500 specimens examined, a molecular phylogeny, and morphological characters of workers, queens, males, and larvae. The revised genus comprises eleven species, including three new species, here described as S. maravalhas sp. n., S. radioheadi sp. n., and S. saramama sp. n. The number of recognized species (11) is lower than the previously recognized 19 species and 3 subspecies. The following species and subspecies are synonymized: under S. opacus [=S. aztecus Forel syn. n., S. zacapanus Wheeler syn. n., and S. diego Forel syn. n.]; under S. bondari [=S. beniensis Weber syn. n.]; under S. mayri [=S. luederwaldti Santschi syn. n., S. moreirai Santschi syn. n., S. harekulli Weber syn. n., S. harekulli arawakensis Weber syn. n., S. urichi Forel syn. n.]; under S. saussurei [=S. burchelli Forel syn. n., S. impexus Wheeler syn. n., S. urichi maracas Weber syn. n.]; and under S. parvulus [=S. myersi Weber syn. n.]. A key to Sericomyrmex species for the worker caste is provided, as well as information on the geographic distributions of all species.

Contents

Introduction    2
Short review of natural history   4
Materials and methods    5
Morphological analyses   5
Measurements and indices   8
Morphometric analysis   10
Data resources   11
Results   11
Morphometric analysis   11
Species delimitation   14
      Sericomyrmex genus description   16
      Sericomyrmex worker   16
      Sericomyrmex queen   19
      Sericomyrmex male   22
      Sericomyrmex larva   24
      Sericomyrmex genus-level differential diagnosis   26
Character discussion and terminology definitions   28
Taxonomic synopsis   31
Key to the worker caste of Sericomyrmex   36
Species accounts   36
      Sericomyrmex amabilis Wheeler, 1925b   36
      Sericomyrmex bondari Borgmeier, 1937   44
      Sericomyrmex lutzi Wheeler, 1916   52
      Sericomyrmex maravalhas sp. n.   56
      Sericomyrmex mayri Forel, 1912   61
      Sericomyrmex opacus Mayr, 1865   71
      Sericomyrmex parvulus Forel, 1912   80
      Sericomyrmex radioheadi sp. n.   86
      Sericomyrmex saramama sp. n.   88
      Sericomyrmex saussurei Emery, 1894   92
      Sericomyrmex scrobifer Forel, 1911   101
Acknowledgments   103
References   104
Supplementary material 1   109
Supplementary material 2   109

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