Solenopsidini

Tropical fire ants Solenopsis geminata, from here.

Belongs within: Myrmicinae.

The Solenopsidini is a group of mostly very small ants, including the notorious fire ants of the genus Solenopsis. Species of Solenopsis have ten-segmented antennae with a two-segmented club, and a single median apical seta on the clypeus (Heterick 2009).

<==Solenopsidini H09
    |--Adlerzia Forel 1902 H09, TB85 [incl. Stenothorax McAreavey 1949 TB85]
    |    `--*A. froggatti (Forel 1902) (see below for synonymy) TB85
    |--Anisopheidole Forel 1914 H09, TB85
    |    `--A. antipodum (Smith 1858) (see below for synonymy) TB85
    |--Carebara Westwood 1841 H09, B03
    |    |--*C. lignata Westwood 1841 B03
    |    |--C. atomus H09
    |    |--C. castanea E89
    |    `--C. corniger H09
    `--Solenopsis Westwood 1840 (see below for synonymy) Z01
         |  i. s.: S. aurea Wheeler 1906 NT01
         |         S. carolinensis ES12
         |         S. froggatti Forel 1913 TB85
         |         S. fugax ES12
         |         S. fusciventris Clark 1934 TB85
         |         S. insculpta Clark 1938 TB85
         |         S. invicta Buren 1972 FT08
         |         S. molesta BS06
         |         S. nitens Bingham 1903 B03
         |         S. quinquecuspis S09
         |         S. richteri S09
         |         S. wroughtoni Forel 1902 B03
         |         S. xyloni BS06
         |--*S. (Solenopsis) geminata (Fabricius 1804) Z01 (see below for synonymy)
         |    |--S. g. geminata E14
         |    `--S. g. rufa E14
         `--S. (Diplorhoptrum Mayr 1855) H09, Z01
              |--S. (D.) belisarius Forel 1907 H09, TB85 [=S. belisaria TB85]
              `--S. (D.) clarki Crawley 1922 H09, TB85

*Adlerzia froggatti (Forel 1902) [=Monomorium (*Adlerzia) froggatti; incl. *Stenothorax katerinae McAreavey 1949, Machomyrma silvestrii Emery 1914] TB85

Anisopheidole antipodum (Smith 1858) [=Atta antipodum; incl. Pheidole froggatti Forel 1902, P. (*Anisopheidole) froggatti, Monomorium lippulum Wheeler 1927, P. myops Forel 1902] TB85

Solenopsis Westwood 1840 [incl. Diagyne Santschi 1923, Disolenopsis Kusnezov 1953, Euophthalma Creighton 1930, Granisolenopsis Kusnezov 1957, Labauchena Santschi 1930, Lilidris Kusnezov 1957, Oedaleocerus Creighton 1930, Paranamyrmex Kusnezov 1954, Synsolenopsis Forel 1918] Z01

*Solenopsis (Solenopsis) geminata (Fabricius 1804) Z01 [=Atta geminata TB85, Formica geminata Z01; incl. Myrmica bidentata Smith 1858 B03, Solenopsis cephalotes Smith 1858 Z01, A. clypeata Smith 1858 Z01, A. coloradensis Buckley 1867 Z01, Dilorhoptrum drewseni Mayr 1861 Z01, M. gayi Spinola 1851 Z01, M. glaber Smith 1862 Z01, Crematogaster laboriosus Smith 1860 Z01, Solenopsis mandibularis Westwood 1841 TB85, Myrmica paleata Lund 1831 Z01, Atta rufa Jerdon 1851 Z01, M. saevissima Smith 1855 Z01, Solenopsis saevissimus Z01, M. vireulens Smith 1858 Z01]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B03] Bingham, C. T. 1903. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera vol. 2. Ants and Cuckoo-Wasps. Taylor and Francis: London.

[BS06] Brady, S. G., T. R. Schultz, B. L. Fisher & P. S. Ward. 2006. Evaluating alternative hypotheses for the early evolution and diversification of ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103 (48): 18172–18177.

[E89] Emery, C. 1889. Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine. XX.—Formiche di Birmania e del Tenasserim raccolte da Leonardo Fea (1885–87). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 485–520.

[E14] Emery, C. 1914. Les fourmis de la Nouvelle-Calédonie & des îles Loyalty. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 4 pp. 393–436, pl. 12. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[ES12] Espadaler, X., & S. Santamaria. 2012. Ecto- and endoparasitic fungi on ants from the Holarctic region. Psyche 2012: 168478.

[FT08] Framenau, V. W., & M. L. Thomas. 2008. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): identification and distribution. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (1): 45–85.

[H09] Heterick, B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1–206.

[NT01] Newton, A. F., M. K. Thayer, J. S. Ashe & D. S. Chandler. 2001. Staphylinidae Latreille, 1802. In: Arnett, R. H., Jr & M. C. Thomas (eds) American Beetles vol. 1. Archostemata, Myxophaga, Adephaga, Polyphaga: Staphyliniformia pp. 272–418. CRC Press: Boca Raton.

[S09] Seifert, B. 2009. Cryptic species in ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) revisited: we need a change in the alpha-taxonomic approach. Myrmecological News 12: 149–166.

[TB85] Taylor, R. W., & D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. In: Walton, D. W. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 2. Hymenoptera: Formicoidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea pp. 1–149. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra.

[Z01] Zhou, S. 2001. Ants of Guangxi. Guangxi Normal University Press: Guilin (China).

Last updated: 14 June 2020.