Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel)

Ward, Philip S. & Branstetter, Michael G., 2022, Species Paraphyly and Social Parasitism: Phylogenomics, Morphology, and Geography Clarify the Evolution of the Pseudomyrmex elongatulus Group (Hymenoptera:, Insect Systematics and Diversity (AIFB) 6 (1), pp. 1-31 : 19-20

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.1093/isd/ixab025

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0394878E-FFF3-FFDE-B831-FA79BAEFFB72

treatment provided by

Felipe

scientific name

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel)
status

 

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel) View in CoL

Figs. 6 and 21

Pseudomyrma championi Forel 1899: 96 . Syntype worker, Amula, 6000 ft., Guerrero, Mexico (H. H. Smith) (BMNH) [examined].

Pseudomyrma leonhardi Stitz 1937: 132 . Two syntype workers, Guerrero, Mexico (L. Schultze) (ZMHB) [examined]. Synonymy by Kempf 1961: 391.

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel) View in CoL ; Wheeler and Wheeler 1956: 382. Combination in Pseudomyrmex View in CoL .

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel) View in CoL ; Kempf 1961: 391-393 (in part).

Other material examined ( AMNH, CASC, CUIC, CZUG, EMEC, IEXA, JTLC, KWJC, LACM, MCZC, MHNG, MNHN, MSNG, MZSP, OSAC, PSWC, SEMC, UCDC, UCRC, USNM).

Mexico: Chihuahua: 6.5 km NW Batopilas , 1,550 m (Ward, P. S.) ; Mpio. Ocampo, 16 k E Basaseachic (Mackay, W.; Mackay, E.);

Ciudad de México: Cd. de México, Jardín Botánico UNAM, 2,344 m (Dubovikoff) ; Colima: 16 km NNE Comala , 1,280 m (Ward, P. S.) ; Guanajuato: 5 mi S Salvatierra (Schlinger, E. I.) ; Guanajuato [as ‘Guanaxuato’] (Dugès, E.) ; Guerrero: Xucumanatlan , 2,135 m (Smith, H. H.) ; Hidalgo: 11 mi W Jct. 45 & 85, 1,980 m (Scullen; Bolinger) ; 8 mi NE Jacala (Fisher, E. M.) ; 8 mi SW Jacala , 1,645 m (Snelling, R. R.) ; Jalisco: [no specific locality] (Krauss, N. L. H.); 1 km S El Fresnito (Rifkind, J.) ; 10 km S Autlán , 1,600 m (Ward, P. S.) ; 4 mi W Mazamitla , 2,070 m (Smith, R. F.) ; 7 mi S Manzamitla (Leech, H. B.) ; Guadalajara (c.u.) ; Lagos de Moreno, Sta. Rosa , 1,900 m (Vásquez, M.) ; Mascota , El Atajo, km. 15 camino a San Sebastian del O., 1,200 m (Vásquez, M.) ; Mixtlán, Cerro Chato, Carr. Ameca-Mascota , km. 48, 1,780 m (Vásquez, M.) ; Mun. Autlán de Navarro, SSE Autlán , 1,435 m (MacDougal, J.) ; San Ignacio, Cerro Gordo , 2,200 m (Navarrete, J. L.) ; Tepatitlán, carretera a Arandas , 1,950 m (Vásquez, M.) ; Tequila, Volcán de Tequila , 1,435 m (Pérez, D.) ; Zapopan , Santa Lucia , 1,642 m (Vásquez, M.) ; México: Valle de Bravo (Parker, F. D.) ; Michoacán: 12.3 mi E Morelia , 2,165 m (Snelling, R. R.) ; 15–20 mi W Jiquilpan (Leech, H. B.) ; 3 mi E Carapan (Parker, F. D.; Stange, L. A.) ; 8 km E Quiroga , 2,285 m (Evans, H. E.) ; Cotija (Villegas, B.) ; Morelia (Krauss, N. L. H.) ; Pátzcuaro [as ‘Patzquero’] (Lipovsky, L. J.) ; Morelos: Chamilpa , 1,850 m (Quiroz, L.) ; Cuernavaca (Krauss, N. L. H.) ; Cuernavaca (Lipovsky, L. J.) ; Sto. Domingo , 1,900 m (Quiroz, L.) ; Tepotzlán (Olson, D. M.) ; Tlacotepec, Mpio. Zacualpan (Alemán, G.) ; Tlalnepantla , 2,030 m (Alemán, G.) ; Tres Marias [as ‘Tres Maria’] (Pereira, P.) ; Zacualpan , 1,730 m (Alemán, G.) ; Oaxaca: 12 mi SE Oaxaca , 1,630 m (Scullen; Bolinger) ; 5 mi SE Oaxaca , 1,875 m (Scullen; Bolinger) ; 9 mi SE Nochistlan (Janzen, D. H.) ; Monte Alban (Malkin, B.) ; Monte Alban (Vaurie, P.; Vaurie, C.) ; Oaxaca (Malkin, B.) ; Puebla: Cacaloapan (Parker, F. D.) ; km. 275, Hwy. 150, NE of Chapulco (Cornell Univ. Mexico Field Party) ; Tehuacán (Janzen, D. H.) ; Sinaloa: 1.6 km NNE El Palmito , 2,130 m (Ward, P. S.) ; 6 mi NE Potrerillos (Parker, F. D.; Stange, L. A.) ; Potrerillos (Schlinger, E.) ; Sonora: La Quintera (Timberlake) ; Santa Barbara , near Alamos , 1,450 m (Franklin, K. A.) ; Veracruz: Acultzingo nr. Orizaba (Janzen, D. H.) ; Huatusco (Quiroz, L.) .

Worker measurements (n = 13). HW 0.82–1.05, HL 1.02–1.28, MFC 0.033 –0.069, LHT 0.71–0.91, CI 0.80–0.87, FCI 0.040 –0.071, REL 0.38–0.44, REL2 0.46–0.55, FI 0.39–0.44, PLI 0.49–0.57, PWI 0.46–0.54, MSC 4–8.

Worker Diagnosis. Small to medium-sized species ( HW 0.82–1.05) with moderately elongate head ( CI 0.80–0.87) (Fig. 6) and relatively short eyes (see REL and REL2 values); frontal carinae separated by about basal scape width or less; metanotal groove present but weakly impressed; in profile, dorsal face of propodeum generally flat and more or less differentiated from declivitous face, rounding into the latter, and the two faces subequal in length; petiole moderately slender ( PLI 0.49–0.57, PL/HL 0.52–0.56); in profile petiole with slight or no anterior peduncle, the anterodorsal face flat to convex, ascending gradually to summit in posterior half of node, then rounding into more steeply descending posterior face; profemur slender; hind leg relatively short ( LHT /HL 0.69–0.75). Head opaque to subopaque, densely punctulate-coriarious, the punctulae on vertex usually separated by less than their diameters (but separated by more than their diameters in some populations, and the vertex correspondingly shinier). Standing pilosity sparse, absent from propodeum and mesonotum ( MSC 4–8). Gaster, metacoxa, metafemur and metatibia dark brown, contrasting with light orangebrown mesosoma; head, first and second pairs of legs, petiole, and postpetiole varying from dark brown (usually) to much lighter and concolorous with mesosoma.

Comments. The worker of this species is characterized by having a light-colored (orange-brown) mesosoma and contrasting dark gaster and hind leg. The head, other legs, petiole, and postpetiole also tend to be strongly infuscated, but in some samples (from Colima, Jalisco, and Chihuahua) they are lighter colored and even concolorous with the mesosoma. Workers of the closely related P. apache are uniformly orange-brown in color; see further discussion under that species. Pseudomyrmex championi has been confused with dark brown workers of a more distantly related species, P. cognatus , which occurs from southern Mexico to Nicaragua. The supposed descriptions of the larva ( Wheeler and Bailey 1920, Wheeler and Wheeler 1956) and queen ( Kempf 1961) of P. championi actually refer to P. cognatus . Workers of the two taxa can be distinguished as follows: P. championi is conspicuously bicolored, the dark gaster contrasting with the light orange-brown mesosoma, whereas P. cognatus is more uniformly dark brownish-black, with the mesosoma at most moderately lighter (and often dark on top); the metanotal groove is better developed (but still slight) in P. championi compared to P. cognatus ; and the eye is generally shorter in P. championi than P. cognatus ( REL 0.38–0.44 vs 0.43–0.48). The geographical distributions of P. championi and P. cognatus do not overlap ( Figs. 21 and 22 View Fig ) but because they belong to different species complexes in the P. elongatulus group (Fig. 1), they cannot be treated as allopatric variants of the same species.Their similarities must reflect convergence or shared ancestral features.

Distribution and Biology. Pseudomyrmex championi occurs in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Sierra Madre del Sur, and the intervening Transmexican Volcanic Belt ( Fig. 21 View Fig ). Collection labels with habitat and/or elevation information document the occurrence of this species in oak woodland, oak-pine forest, old field/pasture, mixed tropical/temperate mesic forest, mid-montane dry forest, and yucca desert, at elevations ranging from 1,200 m to 2,344 m (mean 1,828 m; n = 28). Four nests of P. championi encountered by one of us (P.S.W.) were all from dead twigs of woody shrubs (one Asteraceae , one Verbenaceae , and two unidentified plants).

AMNH

American Museum of Natural History

CUIC

Cornell University Insect Collection

CZUG

Universidad de Guadalajara,Centro de Estudios en Zoologia, Entomologia

EMEC

Essig Museum of Entomology

LACM

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

MHNG

Museum d'Histoire Naturelle

MNHN

Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle

MSNG

Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova 'Giacomo Doria'

MZSP

Sao Paulo, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo

OSAC

Oregon State Arthropod Collection

SEMC

University of Kansas - Biodiversity Institute

UCDC

R. M. Bohart Museum of Entomology

UCRC

University of California, Riverside

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

UNAM

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

CI

Carnegie Institution of Washington

LHT

Lahti City Museum

MSC

Michigan State University

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Formicidae

Genus

Pseudomyrmex

Loc

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel)

Ward, Philip S. & Branstetter, Michael G. 2022
2022
Loc

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel)

Kempf, W. W. 1961: 391
1961
Loc

Pseudomyrmex championi (Forel)

Wheeler, G. C. & J. Wheeler 1956: 382
1956
Loc

Pseudomyrma leonhardi

Kempf, W. W. 1961: 391
Stitz, H. 1937: 132
1937
Loc

Pseudomyrma championi

Forel, A. 1899: 96
1899
Darwin Core Archive (for parent article) View in SIBiLS Plain XML RDF