''Amyrmex golbachi'' is a rare Neotropical

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of ant and the only known species in the genus ''Amyrmex''. It is currently only known from males from the

Amazon basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and from northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Taxonomy

The genus was established by Kusnezov (1953) for four small male ants collected in the Tucumán region of Argentina. Kusnezov recognized a single species, ''Amyrmex golbachi'', which he placed in the subfamily

Dolichoderinae Dolichoderinae is a subfamily of ants, which includes species such as the Argentine ant (''Linepithema humile''), the erratic ant, the odorous house ant, and the cone ant. The subfamily presents a great diversity of species throughout the world ...

, while noting peculiar features of the wing venation and abdominal

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

that introduced some uncertainty about its affinities. Since its original description, ''Amyrmex'' has received scant attention from ant

taxonomists In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

. In his generic revision of the Dolichoderinae, Shattuck (1992) synonymized ''Amyrmex'' under '' Forelius''. Cuezzo (2000) resurrected ''Amyrmex'', pointing out various distinctive features of morphology that do not agree with any known males of ''Forelius''.

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses by Ward & Brady (2009) placed ''Amyrmex'' as a sister genus to ''

Leptanilloides ''Leptanilloides'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Dorylinae. ''Leptanilloides'' is an uncommonly collected genus with subterranean habits in the New World Andean and sub-Andean tropics. Taxonomy With cryptic and eyeless worker ants, the ge ...

'' and a member of the subfamily Leptanilloidinae (now Dorylinae), rather than the Dolichoderinae to which it had been previously assigned. This placement is also supported by morphological traits.

Distribution

The genus is currently only known from males from the

of Brazil and from northern Argentina. No ''Amyrmex'' specimens have been reported besides the

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of several ...

, three paratypes, one additional series of males from the Kusnezov collection, and a collection of several males discovered from unidentified specimens in the

Bohart Museum of Entomology The Bohart Museum of Entomology was founded in 1946 on the campus of the University of California, Davis. The museum is currently the seventh largest insect collection in North America with more than seven million specimens of terrestrial and f ...

, most of which were collected in malaise traps at a lowland

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

site in

Rondônia Rondônia () is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northern subdivision of the country (central-western part). To the west is a short border with the state of Acre, to the north is the state of Amazonas, in the east is Mato Grosso, ...

, Brazil, in 1991. The geographical distribution of ''Amyrmex'' suggests it might be a senior synonym of the sister genus ''

Asphinctanilloides ''Leptanilloides'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Dorylinae. ''Leptanilloides'' is an uncommonly collected genus with subterranean habits in the New World Andean and sub-Andean tropics. Taxonomy With cryptic and eyeless worker ants, the ...

''.

References

* * * * *

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q1935071 Dorylinae Monotypic ant genera Hymenoptera of South America