The evidence of temporary social parasitism by Polyrhachis lamellidens (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in a Camponotus obscuripes colony (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

A new carpenter ant, Camponotus parabarbatus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from India

A new species of carpenter ant, collected in the Shivalik range of Himalaya is described and illustrated based on the worker and gyne castes under the name Camponotusparabarbatus sp. n. Presence of dense, short setae on gena and ventral surface of head resembles it most to Camponotusbarbatus Roger, 1863 distributed in Southeast Asia. A regional identification key of Camponotus species is provid...

A North Florida Ant Fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Common names for Australian ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Most insects do not have common names, and this is a significant barrier to public interest in them, and to their study by non-specialists. This holds for even highly familiar insect groups such as ants. Here, I propose common names for all major native Australian ant genera and species-groups, as well as for many of the most abundant and distinctive species. Sixty-two genera, 142 species-group...

A new workerless inquiline in the Lower Attini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a discussion of social parasitism in fungus-growing ants

Ant inquilines are obligate social parasites, usually lacking a sterile worker caste, which are dependent on their hosts for survival and reproduction. Social parasites are rare among the fungus-gardening ants (Myrmicinae: tribe Attini) and only four species are known until now, all being inquilines from the Higher Attini. We describe Mycocepurus castrator sp.n., the first inquiline social para...

Colony founding by pleometrosis in the semiclaustral seed-harvester ant Pogonomyrmex californicus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Pleometrosis, or colony founding via multiple queens, occurs in a localized population of the seedharvester ant Pogonomyrmex californicus. In an apparently unusual secondary modification, queens of P. californicus are also obligate foragers; that is, queens must forage to garner the resources necessary to rear their first brood. Laboratory experiments measured the costs and benefits of pleometr...