A taxonomic revision and a review of the biology of the North American seed-harvester ant genus Veromessor (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae).

This paper provides a taxonomic revision and a review of the biology for the 10 species of North American seed-harvester ants in the genus Veromessor. Two new synonomies are proposed: V. julianus subsp.

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.

Caste-specific tyramides from Myrmicine ants.

Analysis of the extracts of male ants of Monomorium minimum and Monomorium ebeninum by GC-MS and GC-FTIR revealed the presence of tyramides 2 and 4c, for which the structures were established by comparison with synthetic samples. These compounds and their analogues 1 and 3 were also found in males of other Monomorium species, males of Myrmicaria opaciventris, and males of several Solenopsis (Diplorhoptrum) species. Vapor-phase FTIR spectra revealed critically important structural clues to two of the tyramides, which had methyl branching in the tyramide acyl moiety.

E-2-ethylhexenal, E-2-ethyl-2-hexenol, mellein, and 4-hydroxymellein in Camponotus species from Brunei.

E-2-ethyl-2-hexen-1-ol (1), mellein (4), and 4-hydroxymellein (5) were identified as the major volatile compounds in the head and/or thorax of Camponotus quadrisectus. Neither 1 nor 5 have been previously detected in insects. Also identified were small amounts of m-cresol (2) and 6-methyl salicylic acid (3).

Venom chemistry of the ant Myrmicaria melanogaster from Brunei.

Analysis of the extracts of the ant Myrmicaria melanogaster from Brunei in the Indonesian archipelago by GC-MS and GC-IR revealed the presence of five new alkaloids, identified as (9Z)-3-propylindolizidine (1), cis- and trans-2-butyl-5-propylpyrrolidine (2 and 3, respectively), (10E)-3-butyllehmizidine (7), and (5Z,8Z,9Z)-3-butyl-5-propyl-8-hydroxyindolizidine (10a), whose structures were established by comparison with synthetic samples. In addition the monoterpene hydrocarbons beta-pinene, myrcene, and limonene were detected along with all four isomers of 3-butyl-5-methylindolizidine (4a-d), cis- and trans-2-butyl-5-(4-pentenyl)pyrrolidine (5a and 5b), trans-2-butyl-5-pentylpyrrolidine (6), (5Z,9Z)-3-butyl-5-propylindolizidine (8), and (5Z,9E)-3-butyl-5-propylindolizidine (9), alkaloids well known from ants and frogs, whose structures were established on the basis of published spectra or comparison with authentic samples. This study utilized vapor-phase infrared analysis for the assignment of stereochemistry using Bohlmann bands for the bicyclic alkaloids and, in the case of 10a, the detection of an intramolecular hydrogen bond.

Liquid-feeding performances of ants (Formicidae): ecological and evolutionary implications.

Disparities in liquid-feeding performances of major ant taxa have likely been important to resource partitioning among ants, to the nature and composition of ant partnerships with plants and sap-feeding trophobionts, and to ecological and evolutionary diversification of ant taxa. We measured performance volumetrically for individual workers of 77 ant species from lowland rain forests of Amazonia and Borneo and three key North American taxa. In trials with 9% sucrose solution, performances were strongly related to body size (and alitrunk length) and to proventricular structure at generic to subfamilial levels.

Explaining the abundance of ants in lowland tropical rainforest canopies.

The extraordinary abundance of ants in tropical rainforest canopies has led to speculation that numerous arboreal ant taxa feed principally as "herbivores" of plant and insect exudates. Based on nitrogen (N) isotope ratios of plants, known herbivores, arthropod predators, and ants from Amazonia and Borneo, we find that many arboreal ant species obtain little N through predation and scavenging. Microsymbionts of ants and their hemipteran trophobionts might play key roles in the nutrition of taxa specializing on N-poor exudates.