Four new inquiline social parasite species in the dolichoderine ant genus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae).

Four new inquiline social parasites are described in the dolichoderine ant genus from the Nearctic region, and keys are provided for queens and males of the Nearctic species. The new social parasite species represent the first inquiline species in the genus and the first confirmed inquilines known from the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae. The four new species appear to be workerless inquilines that exploit a single host, (Say), and they represent at least two distinct life history syndromes.

Biogeography and evolution of social parasitism in Australian Myrmecia bulldog ants revealed by phylogenomics.

Studying the historical biogeography and life history transitions from eusocial colony life to social parasitism contributes to our understanding of the evolutionary mechanisms generating biodiversity in eusocial insects. The ants in the genus Myrmecia are a well-suited system for testing evolutionary hypotheses about how their species diversity was assembled through time because the genus is endemic to Australia with the single exception of the species M. apicalis inhabiting the Pacific Island of New Caledonia, and because at least one social parasite species exists in the genus.

Integrative taxonomy reveals cryptic diversity in North American Lasius ants, and an overlooked introduced species.

Biological invasions are a grave threat to ecosystems. The black garden ant (Lasius niger) is a pest species in Europe. Current literature states that L.

The evolution of social parasitism in ants revealed by a global phylogeny.

Studying the behavioral and life history transitions from a cooperative, eusocial life history to exploitative social parasitism allows for deciphering the conditions under which changes in behavior and social organization lead to diversification. The Holarctic ant genus is ideally suited for studying the evolution of social parasitism because half of its 172 species are confirmed or suspected social parasites, which includes all three major classes of social parasitism known in ants. However, the life history transitions associated with the evolution of social parasitism in this genus are largely unexplored.

Two new species of socially parasitic ants from the southeastern United States.

In ants, social parasitism is an umbrella term describing a variety of life-history strategies, where a parasitic species depends entirely on a free-living species, for part of or its entire life-cycle, for either colony founding, survival, and/or reproduction. The highly specialized inquiline social parasites are fully dependent on their hosts for their entire lifecycles. Most inquiline species are tolerant of the host queen in the parasitized colony, forgo producing a worker caste, and invest solely in the production of sexual offspring.

A taxonomic revision of the seed-harvester ant genus Pogonomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) on Hispaniola.

We revise species of seed-harvester ants in the genus Pogonomyrmex (subfamily Myrmicinae) that occur on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Three species are recognized: P. aterrimus Wheeler (new status), P.