Dacetini, Myrmicinae, Formicidae, Hymenoptera, Insecta, Arthropoda, Animalia
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Additional images: worker dorsal view.
Range
Pantropical tramp species known from tropical sites throughout the world; presumably dispersed by commerce (Bolton 1983, Brown 1949, Brown 1954). In Costa Rica, known from a citrus plantation near Muelle San Carlos, but could be expected in any lowland disturbed habitat.
Identification
Antennae 4-segmented; habitus as above. A detailed description is in Bolton (1983). Also see Bolton (2000:950).
Natural History
Members of the genus are all predaceous, with a kinetic mode of attack (Bolton 1999).
This species has a distribution and habitat preference typical of tropical tramp species (Brown 1954). It occurs widely in many tropical and subtropical regions of the world, including oceanic islands such as Hawaii, and it is found most often in highly disturbed habitats such as beach margins and agricultural areas. The geographic origin of emmae is apparently Australia, where several related species occur (Bolton 2000).
Original Description
Epitritus emmae Emery 1890:70. Holotype worker: Saint Thomas Island, West Indies [MCSN].
Later moved to Quadristruma, then Strumigenys. See Bolton (2000) for complete synonymy.
Literature Cited
Bolton, B. 1983. The Afrotropical dacetine ants (Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology Series 46:267-416.
Bolton, B. 1999. Ant genera of the tribe Dacetonini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Nat. Hist. 33:1639-1689.
Bolton, B. 2000. The ant tribe Dacetini, with a revision of the Strumigenys species of the Malagasy Region by Brian L. Fisher, and a revision of the Austral epopostrumiform genera by Steven O. Shattuck. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65:1-1028.
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1949. Revision of the ant tribe Dacetini: III. Epitritus Emery and Quadristruma new genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 75:43-51.
Brown, W. L., Jr. 1954. The ant genus Strumigenys Fred. Smith in the Ethiopian and Malagasy regions. Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. 112:3-34.
Emery, C. 1890. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. I-V. Bullettino della Societa Entomologica Italiana 22:38-80.
Page author:
John T. Longino, The Evergreen State College, Olympia WA 98505 USA.longinoj@evergreen.edu
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