STINGS OF ANTS OF THE TRIBE PHEIDOLOGETINI (MYRMICINAE)

Authors

Charles Kugler, Radford University, Radford, VA

Date of this Version

December 1986

Comments

Published in Insecta Mundi Vol. 1, no. 4, December 1986. Copyright © 1986 Kugler.

Insecta Mundi, published by the Center for Systematic Entomology, is available online at http://centerforsystematicentomology.org/.

Abstract

The definition of the Tribe Pheidologetini in the ant subfamily Myrmicinae has always been problematic. Emery (1922) erected the tribe to contain the genera Pheidologeton, Oligomyrmex, Aneleus, Lophomyrmex, Trigonogaster, Ekebomyrma, Carebara and Paedalgus, but Wheeler (1922) put all these genera in the Solenopsidini. Neither Emery nor Wheeler satisfactorily defined either tribe. More recently, Ettershank (1966) proposed the “Pheidologeton genus group” composed of Pheidologeton, Oligomyrmex (including most Aneleus) , Lophomyrmex, Carebara, Paedalgus and Anisopheidole, but still uncertainty remains as to relationships of these genera and even the definitions of the genera themselves. New characters and new means of analysis are needed to help resolve this problem.