Tiputini Amblyopone
From Brian Fisher: "I finally had a chance to compare your Amblyopone specimen ... with the types of A. cleae and A. armigera. What I have concluded is that A. cleae is a junior synonym of A. armigera. Your specimen is smaller than the cleae colonies collected in Bahia Brazil, and more in line with the size of A. armigera but in terms of sculpture, there are similarities with cleae. So I would use Amblyopone cf. cleae for now as the name for the specimen you have."
One single specimen was collected at Tiputini in a Winkler trap. It is either A. cleae or a new species.
More Information
- A list of valid and invalid names along with links to the original papers can be found at the Hymenoptera Name Server
- From myrmecos.net: "Amblyopone is an ancient group of predaceous ants found worldwide. These subterranean ants have elongate mandibles and a characteristic broad posterior attachment of the petiole. Many species, including the widespread North American species A. pallipes and its close relative A. oregonensis, are specialist predators of centipedes."
- From Ants of Cachoeira: "Member of the genus Amblyopone are regarded as being among the (phylogenetically) most primitive ants (Saux et al 2004). They are specialist predators on certain arthropods and some species show strong preference for geophilomorph centipedes (Ward 1988). These ants seem to practice a form of non-lethal cannibalism where the queens cut a hole in the integument of the larvae and feed opon the hemolymph (Masuko 1986). This behavior does not seem to harm the larvae, which continue to grow and finally emerge as adults.
Sixteen species of Amblyopone are found in the neotropical region. See Brown (1960, 1962), Lattke (1991) and Lacau & Delabie (2002) for keys to species."
- From AntWeb: " Members of the genus Amblyopone have cryptic foraging habits and are specialist predators on certain arthropods, especially centipedes, living in soil or rotten wood. Despite these specialized habits, the ants of this genus also possess some behavioral and morphological traits considered "primitive" (ancestral) for ants as a whole. Amblyopone occurs in all major biogeographic regions. Two species are recorded from California. References: Brown (1960a); Lattke (1991d); Onoyama (1999); Ward (1988, 1994); Xu (2001d)."
- A key to New World species can be found at: http://www.utep.edu/LEB/ants/Amblyopone.doc
- Online Resources: