Mechanical demands of bite in plane head shapes of ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) workers.

Food processing can exert significant evolutionary pressures on the morphological evolution of animal appendages. The ant genus displays a remarkable degree of morphological differentiation and task specialization among its workers. Notably, there is considerable variation in head shape within worker subcastes of , which could affect the stress patterns generated by bite-related muscle contraction.

ATLANTIC ANTS: a data set of ants in Atlantic Forests of South America.

Ants, an ecologically successful and numerically dominant group of animals, play key ecological roles as soil engineers, predators, nutrient recyclers, and regulators of plant growth and reproduction in most terrestrial ecosystems. Further, ants are widely used as bioindicators of the ecological impact of land use. We gathered information of ant species in the Atlantic Forest of South America.

Head and mandible shapes are highly integrated yet represent two distinct modules within and among worker subcastes of the ant genus .

Ants use their mandibles for a wide variety of tasks related to substrate manipulation, brood transport, food processing, and colony defense. Due to constraints involved in colony upkeep, ants evolved a remarkable diversity of mandibular forms, often related to specific roles such as specialized hunting and seed milling. Considering these varied functional demands, we focused on understanding how the mandible and head shape vary within and between subcastes.

Mandibular morphology, task specialization and bite mechanics in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Ants show remarkable ecological and evolutionary success due to their social life history and division of labour among colony members. In some lineages, the worker force became subdivided into morphologically distinct individuals (i.e.

A new species of (Formicidae, Myrmicinae) from Dominican amber with a review of the fossil records for the genus.

comprises approximately 1,000 extant species distributed worldwide, being particularly diverse in the New World. In addition to its high diversity and ecological prevalence, the genus is also characterized by the predominantly intraspecific dimorphism, with major and minor workers. Currently, five fossil species are known, all of which are represented only by minor workers.