''Acropyga'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of small formicine

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

s. Some species can be indirect pests. '' A. acutiventris'', which is found from India to Australia, tends subterranean, root-feeding

mealybug Mealybugs are insects in the family (biology), family Pseudococcidae, unarmored scale insects found in moist, warm habitats. Many species are considered pest (animal), pests as they feed on plant juices of greenhouse plants, house plants and sub ...

s 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.

Description

''Acropyga'' are smaller than , 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 The compound eyes of arthropods like insects, crustaceans and millipedes are composed of units called ommatidia (singular: ommatidium). An ommatidium contains a cluster of photoreceptor cells surrounded by support cells and pigment cells. The ou ...

. In some species, the eyes are completely absent.

Distribution

''Acropyga'' is found in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of ...

, India to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. ''A. paleartica'' is known only from

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

specimens of ''Acropyga '' have been recovered from the

Burdigalian The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 annum, Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). Preceded by the Aquitanian (sta ...

stage.

Dominican amber Dominican amber is amber from the Dominican Republic derived from resin of the extinct tree ''Hymenaea protera''. Dominican amber differentiates itself from Baltic amber by being nearly always transparent, and it has a higher number of fossil incl ...

deposits and several individuals are preserved carrying ''

Electromyrmococcus ''Electromyrmococcus'' is an extinct genus of mealybug in the Pseudococcidae subfamily Rhizoecinae. The genus currently contains three species, all from the early Miocene, Burdigalian stage, Dominican amber deposits on the island of Hispan ...

s. These fossils represent the oldest recorded record of the symbiosis between mealybugs and ''Acropyga'' species ants. They are found in leaf litter and forage on low vegetation, and will nest in various sites, including soil, bark and rotten logs.

Species

*'' Acropyga acutiventris'' Roger, 1862 *'' Acropyga ambigua'' Emery, 1922 *'' Acropyga arnoldi'' Santschi, 1926 *'' Acropyga ayanganna'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga bakwele'' LaPolla & Fisher, 2005 *'' Acropyga butteli'' Forel, 1912 *'' Acropyga decedens'' (Mayr, 1887) *'' Acropyga donisthorpei'' Weber, 1944 *'' Acropyga dubia'' Karavaiev, 1933 *'' Acropyga dubitata'' (Wheeler & Mann, 1914) *''

Acropyga epedana ''Acropyga epedana'' is an ant in the subfamily Formicinae. It lives permanently underground in the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona and forms a mutualistic association with the mealybug '' Rhizoecus colombiensis''. Description ''Acropyga epe ...

'' Snelling, 1973 *'' Acropyga exsanguis'' (Wheeler, 1909) *'' Acropyga fuhrmanni'' (Forel, 1914) *'' Acropyga gelasis'' LaPolla, 2004 *†''

Acropyga glaesaria ''Acropyga glaesaria'' is an extinct species of ant in the subfamily Formicinae known from a group of possibly Miocene fossils found on Hispaniola. ''A. glaesaria'' is the first species of the ant genus '' Acropyga'' to have been described fro ...

'' LaPolla, 2005 *'' Acropyga goeldii'' Forel, 1893 *'' Acropyga guianensis'' Weber, 1944 *'' Acropyga hirsutula'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga hystrix'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga indosinensis'' Wheeler, 1935 *'' Acropyga inezae'' Forel, 1912 *'' Acropyga keira'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga kinomurai'' Terayama & Hashimoto, 1996 *'' Acropyga lauta'' Mann, 1919 *'' Acropyga major'' Donisthorpe, 1949 *'' Acropyga myops'' Forel, 1910 *'' Acropyga nipponensis'' Terayama, 1985 *'' Acropyga oceanica'' Emery, 1900 *'' Acropyga palaga'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga paleartica'' Menozzi, 1936 *'' Acropyga pallida'' (Donisthorpe, 1938) *'' Acropyga panamensis'' Weber, 1944 *'' Acropyga parvidens'' (Wheeler & Mann, 1914) *'' Acropyga romeo'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga rubescens'' Forel, 1894 *'' Acropyga sauteri'' Forel, 1912 *'' Acropyga silvestrii'' Emery, 1915 *'' Acropyga smithii'' Forel, 1893 *'' Acropyga stenotes'' LaPolla, 2004 Acropyga glaesaria SMFBE457B1 01

*'' Acropyga tricuspis'' LaPolla, 2004 *'' Acropyga yaeyamensis'' Terayama & Hashimoto, 1996 *'' Acropyga yushi'' Terayama, 2009

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1308458 Formicinae Ant genera Extant Burdigalian first appearances Taxa named by Julius Roger

Description

Distribution

Species

References

Further reading

External links