Emergent collective behavior evolves more rapidly than individual behavior among acorn ant species.

Emergence is a fundamental concept in biology and other disciplines, but whether emergent phenotypes evolve similarly to nonemergent phenotypes is unclear. The hypothesized process of emergent evolution posits that evolutionary change in at least some collective behaviors will differ from evolutionary change in the corresponding intrinsic behaviors of isolated individuals. As a result, collective behavior might evolve more rapidly and diversify more between populations compared to individual behavior.

The rediscovery of the putative ant social parasite syn. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) reveals an unexpected endoparasite syndrome.

Parasitism is ubiquitous across the tree of life, and parasites comprise approximately half of all animal species. Social insect colonies attract many pathogens, endo- and ectoparasites, and are exploited by social parasites, which usurp the social environment of their hosts for survival and reproduction. Exploitation by parasites and pathogens versus social parasites may cause similar behavioural and morphological modifications of the host.

Taxonomic revision of the clade (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a key to the clades of New World .

is a large myrmicine ant genus with a range spanning the northern hemisphere, including the northern half of the Neotropics. Many of the Neotropical species were originally placed in the now defunct genus . Recent molecular work has revealed that distinct lineages of Neotropical have arrived by evolutionary convergenceat a morphological syndrome with characteristics that were used to diagnose the former genus .

Insect morphometry is reproducible under average investigation standards.

Morphometric research is being applied to a growing number and variety of organisms. Discoveries achieved via morphometric approaches are often considered highly transferable, in contrast to the tacit and idiosyncratic interpretation of discrete character states. The reliability of morphometric workflows in insect systematics has never been a subject of focused research, but such studies are sorely needed.

A taxonomic revision of the Strumigenys nitens and simulans groups (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), two Caribbean radiations of leaf litter ants.

In this study, we revise two groups of cryptic leaf litter ants, the Strumigenys nitens and Strumigenys simulans species groups. These two groups are restricted to the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. We redefine the species groups, provide a key for the five species in the S.

Insights into the evolution, biogeography and natural history of the acorn ants, genus Temnothorax Mayr (hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Background: Temnothorax (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) is a diverse genus of ants found in a broad spectrum of ecosystems across the northern hemisphere. These diminutive ants have long served as models for social insect behavior, leading to discoveries about social learning and inspiring hypotheses about the process of speciation and the evolution of social parasitism. This genus is highly morphologically and behaviorally diverse, and this has caused a great deal of taxonomic confusion in recent years.

Palearctic elements in the old world tropics: a taxonomic revision of the ant genus Temnothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) for the Afrotropical biogeographical region.

Four new Afrotropical species of the ant genus Temnothorax are described and illustrated, all from Kenya. Based upon high resemblance to taxa known from the North African and Iberian territories of the Mediterranean region, these new tropical elements are placed into known Palaearctic species complexes. Specifically, Temnothoraxbrevidentis sp.

Studies on California ants: a review of the genus Temnothorax (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

The following ten new species of the ant genus Temnothorax are described and illustrated: T. anaphalantus (California, Baja California), T. arboreus (California), T.