FAUNA Paraguay Gallery of Ants (Formicidae)
Ants are an instantly recognisable group of hymenopterans with complex social structures. Bolton (2003) performed the latest review of the family and described the following characteristics as typical of the Formicidae, though it should be noted that not all the features are unique to the ants and some have been secondarily lost in certain ant lineages.
Ants are eusocial with perennial colonies and a sterile, wingless worker caste. Colonies form around a single fertile queen who founds the colony and is related to all the colony members. Queens are initally winged and disperse in order to found their own colony, the wings then being shed after mating, which occur in mass nuptial flights. Females have prognathous heads and a metapleural gland. Ants have an infrabuccal sac between the labium and hypopharynx and the antennae are geniculate (bent) between the funiculus and elongated scape. Abdominal segment 2 is differentiated and forms a petiole. Forewings lack cross-veins 3rs-m and 2m-cu
REFERENCES
Bolton B 2003 - Synopsis and Classification of the Formicidae - Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 71
Relevant Resources
FAUNA Paraguay is proud to present the Formicidae (Ant) section of the page in conjunction with the web site Ant Web, an initiative of the California Academy of Sciences. This online source is an exhaustive reference guide to all the world´s ant species and is highly recommended for anybody with an interest in this diverse and fascinating group. We are very grateful for their permission to reproduce ant images and data from their website - please take careful note of the correct accreditation of data and images in the ant pages. Click on the link or the banner below to access the Ant Web directly. Thanks to everybody at Ant Web for making it possible to greatly expand the Formicidae sections of the FAUNA Paraguay page.
FAUNA Paraguay wishes to express its personal thanks to Alex Wild, who spent several years working on Paraguayan ants, for his permission to reproduce his magnificent collection of live Paraguayan ant photographs. Alex is the curator of the Paraguay pages of Ant Web and also has his own ant website www.myrmecos.net which is packed with high quality images of hundreds of live ant species from across the world.
A great number of publications on New World Ants, including books, keys, articles and power point presentations can be downloaded from W MacKay´s Ant page in the Laboratory of Experimental Biology, University of Texas at El Paso. Some of the downloads are large, but it is an excellent and freely available reference source. The publications are all available to be consulted in the FAUNA Paraguay and ECOSARA zoological libraries.
Click on the links below for access to species lists and image galleries for each of the subfamilies based on Alex Wild´s Paraguay page on Ant Web.
The number in brackets after the subfamilial name refers to the number of species in each subfamily currently documented in Paraguay, preceeded by the number of species for which we currently have live images taken in Paraguay.
The number of Ant Web Specimen Images is also given in brackets.
A total of 541 species have been recorded in Paraguay though at least 100 more probably await discovery.
The Paraguayan Ants are classified into 12 subfamilies.
We currently have live images of 77 species taken in Paraguay and a total of 27 mounted specimen photographs displayed courtesy of Ant Web.
SUBFAMILY AMBLYOPONINAE (0/5) Ant Web Specimen Images (5/5)
SUBFAMILY CERAPACHYINAE (0/7) Ant Web Specimen Images (4/7)
SUBFAMILY DOLICHIDERINAE "Odorous Ants" (13/37) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/37)
SUBFAMILY ECITONINAE "Army Ants" (4/32) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/32)
SUBFAMILY ECTATOMMINAE (4/17) Ant Web Specimen Images (16/17)
SUBFAMILY FORMICINAE (17/77) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/77)
SUBFAMILY HETEROPONERINAE (0/5) Ant Web Specimen Images (4/5)
SUBFAMILY MYRMICINAE "Harvester Ants, Fire Ants" (29/281) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/281)
SUBFAMILY PARAPONERINAE (0/1) Ant Web Specimen Images (1/1)
SUBFAMILY PONERINAE "Hunting Ants, Trap-jaw Ants" (4/47) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/47)
SUBFAMILY PSEUDOMYRMECINAE "Twig Ants" (4/30) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/30)
SUBFAMILY PROCERATIINAE (0/2) Ant Web Specimen Images (0/2)
Many thanks to Ant Web and Alex Wild of www.myrmecos.net for their permission to reproduce the information included in the ant sections of the FAUNA Paraguay page.
Designed by Paul Smith 2006. This website is copyrighted by law. Material contained herewith may not be used without the prior written permission of FAUNA Paraguay. Photographs on this web-site were taken by Paul Smith, Hemme Batjes, Regis Nossent,
Alberto Esquivel, Arne Lesterhuis, Rebbeca Zarza, José Luis Cartes and Hugo del Castillo and are used with their permission.
