Showing papers on "Vespoidea published in 1976"

Preliminary notes on the habits of trimeria howardi, a neotropical communal masarid wasp, with description of the mature larva (hymenoptera : vespoidea)

Abstract: ZUCCHI, R., YAMANE, SK., and SAKAGAMI, S.F. 1976. Preliminary notes on the habits of Trimeria howardi, a Neotropical communal masarid wasp, with description of the mature larva (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea). Ins. matsum. n.s. 8: 47-57, 1 tab., 2 pIs. Trimeria howardi excavates heterodalous nests in soil. The brood cell is excavated, not built in a cavity. An empty cell receives first either an egg or the larval food. Provisioning is successive. Often two or more females are found in the same nests. Most of such nests are tentatively interpreted as communal, but some nests suggest quasisociality. The mature larva is described and compared with that of two other genera. The larva is similar to that of Pseudomasaris edwardsii, both with the mandibles feeble, antennae large, and c1ypeus located above the line connecting the mandibular bases. An unusual number (seven) of antennal sensillae and a remarkably minute atrial opening are characteristic of Trimeria howardi. A uthors' addresses. ZUCCHI, R.: Departamento de Biologia, Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciencias e Letras de Ribeirao Preto, Universidade de sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, Estado de sao Paulo, 14,100, Brasil. YAMANE, SK.: Entomological Institute, Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaid6 University, Sapporo, 060 Japan. SAKAGAMI, S.F.: Zoological Institute, Faculty of Science, Hokkaid6 University, Sapporo, 060 Japan.

The First Workerless Parasite in the Ant Genus Formica (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract: Formica talbot.ae Wilson, a member of the microgyna group and the first proven workerless parasite in Formica, is described here. The species is known from Michigan, Iowa, and North Dakota. The discovery of talbotae com­ pletes the inferred evolutionary progression within Formica from independent existence through temporary parasitism to permanent, workerless parasitism. During her exhaustive survey of the ant fauna of the Edwin S. George Reserve of Michigan, an effort previously unparalleled in North America, Mary Talbot has uncovered a surprising num­ ber of rare and undescribed species. One of the most significant is the species to be described below, a member of the Formica microgyna group which to the best of my knowledge is the first adequately documented example of a workerless parasite in this large Holarctic genus. Formica talbotae Wilson, new species Diagnosis (queen). A small species even for the microgyna group, characterized further by the following combination of traits: subquadrate head; smoothly rounded anterior clypeal border; thick petiolar node with relatively thick, rounded crest; short (0.05-0.08 mm), dense standing pilosity over all of body and appendages, including scape; many of the hairs on the tho­ racic dorsum, propodeum, petiole, and fore coxae spatulate. So far as known, talbotae is exclusively a workerless parasite of Formica obscuripes Fore!. Relationships. During the study I examined specimens of all of the microgyna group species for which sexual forms are known. Most of those known from workers solely were also examined, but are in any case considered probably distinct on the basis of the possession of a worker caste alone. The closest species is F. dirksi Wing, which differs in the queen caste by its slightly lar­ ger size; much longer, less frequently spatulate pilosity; and more rounded head shape. F. spatulata Buren is also close but its queen

Taxonomic and behavioral notes on the African ant, Aenictus eugenii Emery, with a description of the queen (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Abstract: The East African army ant Aenictus eugenii Emery includes 1 subspecies and 3 varieties. One of these, A. kenyensis Santschi, is placed in synonymy, and a taxonomic history of the species is presented. The queen for the species is described for the first time and is compared with the 3 other known African Aenictus queens. Observations of A. eugenii foraging behavior show that it is a column raider and a specialized predator of ants, particularly the immature stages, that the workers move along the foraging trails in single file in small tandem groups and that they normally subdivide their prey only when it is larger than they. Ants of the Old World genus Aenictus comprise the tribe Aenictini of the sub family Dorylinae or "true army ants." The genus is represented by 34 species in the Indo-Australian region and by at least 15 species in Africa (Wilson 1964). Although Wilson (1964) taxonomically revised the genus for the Indo-Austra lian area, the known species in Africa are still spread among 60 nominal forms. Included in these are varietal and subspecies names that eventually must be dealt with if we are ever to appreciate the actual level of diversity achieved by this genus in Africa. The Asian species are also better known behaviorly than their African con geners. Important biological studies of Asian species include those of Wheeler and Chapman (1925), Chapman (1964) and Schneirla and Reyes (1966, 1969). Biological observations of sub-Saharan species are limited to a recent study by Gotwald (1975) and to fragmentary reports by Brauns (1901), Arnold (1915), and Sudd (1959). Some biological information on African species can be gleaned from the original species descriptions, but much of the information is little more than anecdotal. Acknowledgments: We are grateful to Dr. William L. Brown, Jr., Cornell University, for critically reading the manuscript. We also thank Dr. David H. Kistner, California State University, Chico, for kindly providing essential specimens and for identifying one of the myrmecophiles. The research was supported by National Science Foundation Grants GB 22856 and GB-39874 (W. H. Gotwald, Jr., Principal Investigator). NEW YORK ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY, LXXXIV: 182-188. September, 1976. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.145 on Wed, 27 Apr 2016 06:11:59 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms VOL. LXXXIV, SEPTEMBER, 1976 183 Aenictus eugenii Emery is distributed throughout much of East Africa, al though it is not frequently seen. During the past 4 years we have encountered the species only 6 times, but on 4 of these occasions, we were able to observe, to some extent, the behavior of the species. Dr. David H. Kistner, California State University, Chico, has kindly provided us with a series of workers and an associated queen of the species, and we are now able to describe the queen for the first time. We have also provided a taxonomic history of the species including a new synonym. TAXONOMY OF THE SPECIES

Ctenobethylus (Bethylidae) a New Synonym of Iridomyrmex (Formicidae, Hymenoptera)

Abstract: In 1939, in a paper describing several new genera and species of Baltic Amber Hymenoptera, C. T. Brues erected Ctenobethylus succinalis gen. et sp. nov. for a single specimen of what he took to be an apterous female bethylid. I recently chanced upon this description, and was immediately struck by the antlike habitus of the type as portrayed in Brues’ fig. 7. It was also noted that the figure showed only 12 antennomeres, although Brues had made a diagnostic point of claiming \"13-jointed\" antennae for his genus. My suspicion that the type of C. succinalis is actually a worker ant of the dolichoderine genus Iridomyrmex was confirmed when it was sent for my study. The specimen has the legs folded up so as to obscure the waist, which explains why Brues did not see the petiolar scale. In the preparation as it now stands, however, the scale is partly visible in a left-side view, although it is covered with a white film. The specimen also has 12-merous antennae, and in fact closely corresponds to small-sized workers of Iridomyrmex goepperti with which I have compared it directly. Although I have not seen the type of L goepperti, compared 11 worker specimens of this commonest of all Baltic Amber ants lent from the Museum of Comparative Zoology collection. (/. goepperti made up over half of the more than 10,000 Baltic Amber ants determined by W. M. Wheeler at one time or another; see Wheeler, 1914: op. cit. infra, p. 8.) These specimens and the C. succinalis type meet very well the available descriptions of I. goepperti. The formal synonymy is: