Adelomyrmex

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Protostomia
Cladus: Ecdysozoa
Cladus: Panarthropoda
Phylum: Arthropoda
Cladus: Pancrustacea
Cladus: Allotriocarida
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Classis: Insecta
Cladus: Dicondylia
Subclassis: Pterygota
Cladus: Metapterygota
Infraclassis: Neoptera
Cladus: Eumetabola
Cladus: Endopterygota
Superordo: Hymenopterida
Ordo: Hymenoptera
Subordo: Apocrita
Superfamilia: Formicoidea

Familia: Formicidae
Subfamilia: Myrmicinae
Tribus: Solenopsidini
Genus: Adelomyrmex
Species: A. anxiocalor – A. betoi – A. biroi – A. bispeculum – A. boltoni – A. brenesi – A. brevispinosus – A. coco – A. costatus – A. cristiani – A. dentivagans – A. dorae – A. foveolatus – A. grandis – A. hirsutus – A. laevigatus – A. longinodus – A. longinoi – A. mackayi – A. marginodus – A. metzabok – A. micans – A. microps – A. minimus – A. myops – A. nortenyo – A. paratristani – A. quetzal – A. robustus – A. samoanus – A. silvestrii – A. striatus – A. tristani – A. vaderi
Name

Adelomyrmex Fernandez, 2003

Type species: Adelomyrmex biroi Emery, 1897 (monobasic).
Synonyms

Apsychomyrmex Wheeler, 1910:261
Arctomyrmex Mann, 1921:457

References

Fernández C., F. 2003. Revision of the myrmicine ants of the Adelomyrmex genus-group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 361: 1–52. Abstract & excerpt Reference page.
Longino, J.T. 2012: A review of the ant genus Adelomyrmex Emery 1897 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Central America. Zootaxa 3456: 1–35. Preview PDF Reference page.

Adelomyrmex is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae.[2] Species of Adelomyrmex are small, litter-inhabiting ants most often collected in Berlese and Winkler samples. Although the genus and its relatives have a pantropical distribution, Central American cloud forests are the only places where they are abundant and diverse.[3]

At the moment; Adelomyrmex Have 66 Species; including Morphotaxons.
Habitat and distribution

The center of Adelomyrmex abundance and diversity is Central America, and a few far-flung species occur in New Guinea, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, New Caledonia, and Isla del Coco.[3] Several Adelomyrmex species are mountain-top endemics with very restricted ranges, and climate change clearly poses the threat of mountain-top extinction.[3]

The geographic range of the genus in the New World is (1) the mainland from northern Mexico to Amazonian Brazil; (2) the Galápagos, where the mainland species A. myops is probably recently introduced; and (3) Isla del Coco, a small oceanic island north of the Galápagos, with a highly distinctive endemic species. The genus is unknown from the Caribbean islands. The center of abundance and diversity is the Central American highlands south to western Panama. Elsewhere in the range the genus is always very rare with low local diversity.[3]

In Central America, Adelomyrmex occur primarily in mature wet forest habitats, in rotten wood and leaf litter on the forest floor. They are far more abundant in montane cloud forest than in lowland rainforest. In some cloud forest habitats they can occur in nearly 100% of miniWinkler samples (1 m2 samples of sifted litter) and dozens of individuals may occur in samples. In lowland rainforest they are rare, occurring in fewer than 10% of miniWinklers, and usually as one or two individuals per sample. Highland species are typically larger as well. Thus in some cloud forests Adelomyrmex make up a large proportion of the ant biomass (often sharing that role with another dominant cloud forest myrmicine genus, Stenamma). In contrast, in lowland habitats they are very rare and a minute proportion of the biomass. In South America they are always rare, whether in lowlands or cloud forest.[3]
Morphology

Total tooth count.-4-7;Club antennal.-2 Total segment count.-12;Eyes.-2-10 omatidia;Pronotal-Mesonotal spines.-absent;Propodeal spines.-present(Dentiform); Petiolar spines.-absent;Scrobes.-absent;Metapleural gland.-present

Sting.-Present

Caste sistem.- None or Weak

Palp formula: 2,2; 1,2; 1,1
Nests

Given their abundance in cloud forest Winkler samples, remarkably few nests have been observed. Small nests of A. tristani and A. paratristani are occasionally found in bits of rotten wood on the ground. The dark workers curl and lie motionless on disturbance, blending with the background debris. Only the white brood gives them away. An exception is some montane sites in Guatemala and Chiapas where A. robustus occurs. Adelomyrmex robustus can be a more conspicuous presence, with large colonies in rotten wood at forest edges. Adelomyrmex bispeculum, a species endemic to Monteverde, Costa Rica, is only known from three nest collections. These nests were in small chambers in clay soil, one beneath a stone and two in a vertical trailside bank. It is revealing that this species has not been collected in the hundreds of sifted litter samples taken in the Monteverde area, in which A. tristani is very abundant. It suggests fine-scale microsite segregation of Adelomyrmex species.[4]
Biology
Head of an Adelomyrmex myops dealate queen

Foragers are almost never seen. Adelomyrmex workers generally have small eyes and presumably forage almost entirely beneath the litter. In baiting transects in cloud forest, Adelomyrmex are occasionally encountered, but not in numbers that reflect their abundance in sifted litter samples. Nothing is known of their feeding habits.[3]

The reproductive biology of Adelomyrmex is mysterious. In Winkler samples, Adelomyrmex workers are routinely accompanied by wingless queens and intercaste individuals. The queens are about the same size as workers but with ocelli, large compound eyes, and the typical enlarged mesosoma of myrmicine queens. The typical sclerites of winged queens and apparent wing scars are present. One queen of A. silvestrii from a Winkler sample has a shred of membranous wing, as though it were irregularly torn or chewed off. Intercaste individuals show variable intermediacy between workers and queens, with variable presence of a single median ocellus, compound eyes of intermediate size, and an enlarged promesonotum.[4] In spite of the relative commonness of these putative reproductives, males and winged queens are rare in Central America. None have appeared in hundreds of Winkler samples, and none have appeared in Malaise samples from the same sites where Adelomyrmex are abundant in the litter. The only known winged reproductives in the genus are the single report of males and alate queens of A. vaderi, a species from Colombia.[4]
Species

Adelomyrmex anxiocalor Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex betoi Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex biroi Emery, 1897
Adelomyrmex bispeculum Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex brenesi Longino, 2006
Adelomyrmex coco Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex costatus Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex cristiani Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex dentivagans Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex foveolatus Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex grandis Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex hirsutus Mann, 1921
Adelomyrmex laevigatus Mackay, 2003
Adelomyrmex longinoi Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex mackayi Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex marginodus Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex metzabok Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex micans Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex microps Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex minimus Fernández & Mackay, 2003
Adelomyrmex myops (Wheeler, 1910)
Adelomyrmex nortenyo Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex paratristani Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex quetzal Longino, 2012
Adelomyrmex robustus Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex samoanus Wilson & Taylor, 1967
Adelomyrmex silvestrii (Menozzi, 1931)
Adelomyrmex striatus Fernández, 2003
Adelomyrmex tristani (Menozzi, 1931)
Adelomyrmex vaderi Fernández, 2003

References

Bolton, B. (2015). "Adelomyrmex". AntCat. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
"Genus: Adelomyrmex". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
Longino 2012, p. 2

Longino 2012, p. 3

Longino, John T. (2012), "A review of the ant genus Adelomyrmex Emery 1897 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Central America" (PDF), Zootaxa, 3456: 1–35, doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3456.1.1
This article incorporates text from a scholarly publication published under a copyright license that allows anyone to reuse, revise, remix and redistribute the materials in any form for any purpose: Longino, John T. (2012), "A review of the ant genus Adelomyrmex Emery 1897 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in Central America" (PDF), Zootaxa, 3456: 1–35, doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3456.1.1