Azteca velox Forel, 1899

Aguilar-Mendez, Mario J., Rosas-Mejia, Madai, Vasquez-Bolanos, Miguel, Gonzalez-Hernandez, Gloria Angelica & Janda, Milan, 2021, New distributional records for ants and the evaluation of ant species richness and endemism patterns in Mexico, Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 60630-60630 : 60630

Azteca velox Forel, 1899

Materials

Type status: Other material. Occurrence: lifeStage: adult; reproductiveCondition: non-reproductive; Taxon: kingdom: Animalia ; phylum: Arthropoda ; class: Insecta ; order: Hymenoptera ; family: Formicidae ; genus: Azteca ; scientificNameAuthorship: Forel , 1899; Location : country: Mexico; stateProvince: Morelos; locality: Quilamula ; verbatimElevation: 1084 m; decimalLatitude: 18.5176; decimalLongitude: -99.00599; Identification: identifiedBy: Aguilar-Méndez M.J.; Rosas-Mejía M.; Vásquez-Bolaños M.; Event: samplingProtocol: Hand collecting; year: 2017; month: 6; day: 6; habitat: annual temporal and semi-permanent agriculture

Distribution

Azteca velox Forel, 1899 were found in Quilamula, Morelos, a disturbed area of annual temporal agricultural landscape with an amt of 24.38 ºC and 76.91 mm/cm2 of amp. Azteca velox have a broader distribution across South America and only three States of Mexico have previous records of this species (Veracruz de la Llave, Guerrero and Nayarit). The climatic conditions are similar amongst those States and Morelos, where we found this new state-level record.

Biology

Azteca velox are commonly foraging during diurnal hours and can visit extrafloral nectaries, but are characterised as a generalised scavenger. Their polydomous nests can be found in plant cavities in seasonally dry areas, synanthropic localities and coastal zones ( Longino 2007).