Acropyga

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Acropyga
A. berwicki worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Family: Formicidae Subfamily: Formicinae Genus: Acropyga Roger, 1862
Diversity
> 60 species
Species
See text.

Acropyga is a genus of small formicine ants.

Some species can be indirect pests. A. acutiventris, which is found from India to Australia, tends subterranean, root-feeding mealybugs of the species Xenococcus annandalei. Living, gravid females are carried in the jaws of A. acutiventris queens during their nuptial flight, to establish the symbiotic association in founding colonies. Other Acropyga species have relationships with different species of mealybugs, and it could be a trait common to the whole genus.^[1]

Contents 1 Description 2 Distribution 3 Species 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Description

Acropyga are smaller than 3.5 mm, with a compact, stocky body. They have antennae with 10 or 11 segments (including the scape), short palps and reduced eyes with four to 30 individual ommatidia. In some species the eyes are completely absent.^[2]

[edit] Distribution

Acropyga is found in the Americas, southern Africa, India to Southeast Asia and Australia. A. palearctica is known only from Greece.

[edit] Species

Acropyga acutiventris Roger, 1862 Acropyga ambigua Emery, 1922 Acropyga amblyops Forel, 1915 Acropyga arnoldi Santschi, 1926 Acropyga bakwele LaPolla & Fisher, 2005 Acropyga baodaoensis Terayama, 1985 Acropyga berwicki Wheeler, 1935 Acropyga borgmeieri Donisthorpe, 1939 Acropyga bruchi Santschi, 1929 Acropyga butteli Forel, 1912 Acropyga crassicornis Emery, 1900 Acropyga decedens (Mayr, 1887) Acropyga distinguenda Karavaiev, 1935 Acropyga dodo (Donisthorpe, 1946) Acropyga donisthorpei Weber, 1944 Acropyga dubia Karavaiev, 1933 Acropyga dubitata (Wheeler & Mann, 1914) Acropyga emeryi (Forel, 1915) Acropyga epedana Snelling, 1973 Acropyga exsanguis (Wheeler, 1909) Acropyga fuhrmanni (Forel, 1914) Acropyga goeldii Forel, 1893 Acropyga guianensis Weber, 1944 Acropyga indistincta Crawley, 1923 Acropyga indosinensis Wheeler, 1935 Acropyga inezae Forel, 1912 Acropyga jiangxiensis Wang & Wu, 1992 Acropyga kathrynae Weber, 1944 Acropyga lauta Mann, 1919

Acropyga major Donisthorpe, 1949 Acropyga marshalli (Crawley, 1921) Acropyga meermohri (Staercke, 1930) Acropyga mesonotalis Weber, 1944 Acropyga moluccana Mayr, 1879 Acropyga myops Forel, 1910 Acropyga nipponensis Terayama, 1985 Acropyga oceanica Emery, 1900 Acropyga oko Weber, 1944 Acropyga pachycera (Emery, 1906) Acropyga paleartica Menozzi, 1936 Acropyga pallida (Donisthorpe, 1938) Acropyga paludis Weber, 1944 Acropyga panamensis Weber, 1944 Acropyga paramaribensis Borgmeier, 1933 Acropyga parvidens (Wheeler & Mann, 1914) Acropyga pickeli Borgmeier, 1927 Acropyga quadriceps Weber, 1944 Acropyga robae Donisthorpe, 1936 Acropyga rutgersi Buenzli, 1935 Acropyga sauteri Forel, 1912 Acropyga silvestrii Emery, 1915 Acropyga smithii Forel, 1893 Acropyga termitobia Forel, 1912 Acropyga trinitatis Weber, 1944 Acropyga undecema (Donisthorpe, 1949) Acropyga urichi Weber, 1944 Acropyga wheeleri Mann, 1922

[edit] References

• ITIS: Genus Acropyga
• Australian Ants Online: Genus Acropyga
• Taylor, Robert W. (1992): Nomenclature and distribution of some Australian and New Guinean Ants of the subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Aust. ent. Soc. 31: 57-69. PDF

[edit] Further reading

• Wheeler, William M. (1935): Ants of the genus Acropyga Roger, with description of a new species. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 43: 321-329. PDF
• LaPolla, John S. & Fisher, Brian L. (2005)): A Remarkable New Species of Acropyga (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Gabon, with a Key to the Afrotropical Species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56(30): 601-605. PDF

[edit] External links

• myrmecos.net: A. acutiventris carrying a mealybug