Ecitoninae

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Ecitoninae
Eciton burchellii army ants
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ecitoninae
Forel, 1893
Type genus
Eciton
Tribes

Cheliomyrmecini
Ecitonini

Eciton burchellii with larvae of a raided wasp nest

Ecitoninae is an army ant subfamily most prevalent in the Neotropical region. All species are nomadic, predatory army ants,[1] and most New World army ants belong to this subfamily.

Ecitoninae is further broken into two groups in the New World, the tribes Cheliomyrmecini and Ecitonini. The former contains only the genus Cheliomyrmex, and Ecitonini contains four genera, Neivamyrmex, Nomamyrmex, Labidus, and Eciton, the genus after which the group is named.[2] The genus Neivamyrmex is the largest of all army ant genera, containing some 120 species, all in the United States. The most predominant species of Eciton is E. burchellii, whose common name is "army ant" and which is considered to be the archetypal species.

Tribes and genera

Identification

Workers can be recognized by the following features:[1]

  • eye reduced to a single ommatidium or absent;
  • clypeus narrow (back to front), so that the antennal insertions are close to the anterior margin of the head;
  • antennal sockets not concealed by frontal carinae; and
  • pygidium simple, unarmed.

In addition, the pronotum and mesonotum are fused into a single structure, and the sting is present and functional. The postpetiole may be present or absent. Most of these features, except the simple pygidium, are seen in some species of the subfamily Cerapachyinae.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Subfamily: Ecitoninae". antweb.org. AntWeb. Retrieved 13 October 2013. 
  2. ↑ Brady, S. N. G. (2003). "Evolution of the army ant syndrome: the origin and long-term evolutionary stasis of a complex of behavioral and reproductive adaptations". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 100 (11): 6575–6579. Bibcode:2003PNAS..100.6575B. doi:10.1073/pnas.1137809100. PMC 164488. PMID 12750466. 

External links

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