''Paratrechina'' is one of seven
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 ...
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
(alongside ''
Euprenolepis
''Euprenolepis'' is a Southeast Asian genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae with eight recognized species.
Species
* ''Euprenolepis echinata'' LaPolla, 2009
* ''Euprenolepis maschwitzi'' LaPolla, 2009
* ''Euprenolepis negrosensis'' (Wheeler ...
,
Nylanderia
''Nylanderia'' is a large genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution with species inhabiting a wide array of habitats in almost all geographic regions. ''Nylanderia'', currently containing over 1 ...
,
Paraparatrechina
''Paraparatrechina'' is a genus of small ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus contains 31 species distributed in the tropics of Africa, Asia and Australia.
Distribution and habitat
The genus is restricted to the Paleotropics. Thirteen sp ...
,
Prenolepis
''Prenolepis'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. Most species are found in southeastern Asia and southern China, but the genus has a wide distribution with species known from North America, southern Europe, Anatolia, Cuba, Haiti, ...
,
Pseudolasius
''Pseudolasius'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from southern Asia (from India to China) to northern Australia, where it appears to be restricted to tropical
The tropics are the regions of Earth surround ...
,'' and ''
Zatania
''Zatania'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus is known from Central America and the Greater Antilles
The Greater Antilles ( es, Grandes Antillas or Antillas Mayores; french: Grandes Antilles; ht, Gwo Zantiy; jam, G ...
'') in the
''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Formicinae
The Formicinae are a subfamily within the Formicidae containing ants of moderate evolutionary development.
Formicines retain some primitive features, such as the presence of cocoons around pupae, the presence of ocelli in workers, and little ...
(
tribe
The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...
Lasiini
Lasiini is a tribe of ants in the family Formicidae. There are about 10 genera and more than 450 described species in Lasiini.
Genera
These genera belong to the tribe Lasiini:
* ''Acanthomyops'' Mayr, 1862
* '' Anoplolepis'' Santschi, 1914
* ' ...
). Six species are included in ''Paratrechina''; one of which, the longhorn crazy ant (''
Paratrechina longicornis''), is a widespread,
pantropical
A pantropical ("all tropics") distribution is one which covers Tropics, tropical regions of both hemispheres. Examples of species include caecilians, modern sirenians and the plant genera ''Acacia'' and ''Bacopa''.
''Neotropical'' is a zoogeogra ...
pest.
Species
* ''
Paratrechina ankarana
''Paratrechina'' is one of seven ant genera (alongside ''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius,'' and ''Zatania'') in the ''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the subfamily Formicinae (tribe Lasiini). Six species are in ...
''
LaPolla & Fisher, 2014
* ''
Paratrechina antsingy
''Paratrechina'' is one of seven ant genera (alongside ''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius,'' and ''Zatania'') in the ''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the subfamily Formicinae (tribe Lasiini). Six species are in ...
''
LaPolla & Fisher, 2014
* ''
Paratrechina kohli
''Paratrechina'' is one of seven ant genera (alongside ''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius,'' and ''Zatania'') in the ''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the subfamily Formicinae (tribe Lasiini). Six species are in ...
''
(Forel, 1916)
* ''
Paratrechina longicornis''
(Latreille, 1802)
* ''
Paratrechina umbra
''Paratrechina'' is one of seven ant Genus, genera (alongside ''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia, Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis, Pseudolasius,'' and ''Zatania'') in the Prenolepis genus-group, ''Prenolepis'' genus-group from the subfamily Formicinae (Trib ...
''
(Zhou & Zheng, 1998)
* ''
Paratrechina zanjensis
''Paratrechina zanjensis'' is an African species of ant in the genus ''Paratrechina''. It is one of two species in the genus, the other being the longhorn crazy ant (''Paratrechina longicornis'').
Habitat and distribution
The species in known f ...
''
LaPolla, Hawkes & Fisher, 2013
Distribution
Most ''Paratrechina'' species are native to
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
and
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
,
but one species, ''Paratrechina umbra'', has only been found in southern
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and is native 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 ...
.
The only species found outside of these regions is ''Paratrechina longicornis'', which has been introduced by humans to tropical areas across the globe.
The native range of ''Paratrechina longicornis'' is currently unknown, but it is thought to be of either African or Asian origin. Although ''Paratrechina longicornis'' has been found in undisturbed habitats in Southeast Asia,
the Afrotropics are the center of ''Paratrechina'' diversity.
''Paratrechina zanjensis'', the purported
sister species
In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree.
Definition
The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram:
Taxon A and t ...
to ''Paratrechina longicornis'', is found specifically in
miombo woodlands
The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...
across central and eastern Africa (including
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
,
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
,
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
, and
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
), and ''Paratrechina longicornis'' is also considered a woodland specialist.
Taxonomy
In 2010, the genus ''Paratrechina'' was discovered to be
paraphyletic
In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
with respect to the
subgenus
In biology, a subgenus (plural: subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.
In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between t ...
''Nylanderia,'' which was then elevated to full generic status.
This taxonomic change resulted in ''Paratrechina'' becoming
monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...
with ''Paratrechina longicornis'' as its sole species. A taxonomic review of ''Paratrechina'' in 2013 resulted in the description of another species from Africa, called ''Paratrechina zanjensis,'' and in 2014 the central African species ''Paratrechina kohli'' was transferred from ''Prenolepis'' and two more new species from Madagascar were described: ''Paratrechina ankarana'' and ''Paratrechina antsingy.''
The last taxonomic change to the genus was in 2016 when the Southeast Asian species ''Paratrechina umbra'' was transferred from ''Prenolepis,'' bringing ''Paratrechina'' to a total count of six species. This includes the ant commonly known as a "sugar ant", or "concrete ant". Not to be confused with pavement ants, as these are a separate species of ant.
Morphology
Workers
''Paratrechina'' species are most readily recognized by their
gracile
Gracility is slenderness, the condition of being gracile, which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjective ''gracilis'' (masculine or feminine), or ''gracile'' ( neuter), which in either form means slender, and when transferred for examp ...
appearance due to their elongate
scapes (first antennal segment), head,
tibiae
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
, and
mesosoma
The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings.
In hymenopterans of t ...
. They also have erect
macrosetae on the
pronotum
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...
and
mesonotum
The mesothorax is the middle of the three segments of the thorax of hexapods, and bears the second pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the mesonotum (dorsal), the mesosternum (ventral), and the mesopleuron (lateral) on ...
, but not the
propodeum
The propodeum or propodium is the first abdominal segment in Apocrita Hymenoptera (wasps, bees and ants). It is fused with the thorax to form the mesosoma. It is a single large sclerite, not subdivided, and bears a pair of spiracles. It is strongl ...
.
The mesonotal and metanotal
sutures of the mesosoma are always deep and complete, dividing those parts of the body into distinct segments. These sutures are useful for distinguishing ''Paratrechina'' from three other closely related genera: ''Paraparatrechina, Prenolepis,'' and ''Zatania.''
''Euprenolepis, Nylanderia,'' and ''Pseudolasius'' also have these deep and complete sutures and together form a
clade
A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...
with ''Paratrechina''.
''Paratrechina'' species are very similar in appearance to those of ''Nylanderia'', but may be distinguished by the placement of the compound eyes on the head. ''Nylanderia'' always have eyes placed to the anterior of the midline of the head, while the eyes of ''Paratrechina'' species (except ''Paratrechina umbra,'' which also has anteriorly placed eyes) are placed slightly posterior to the midline.
''Nylanderia'' are also known to always have six teeth on the masticatory margin of the
mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower tooth, teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movabl ...
, while most ''Paratrechina'' species have five; exceptions being ''Paratrechina kohli,'' which has eight, and ''Paratrechina umbra'', which has six.
Reproductives
''Paratrechina''
queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
and males are known only from ''Paratrechina longicornis'' and have not been described for any other species within the genus. The males of ''Paratrechina longicornis'' are quite distinct from those of closely related genera. Compared to those of ''Prenolepis'' and ''Zatania'', males of ''Paratrechina longicornis'' have much shorter, more robust
paramere
Parameres ('side parts') are part of the external reproductive organs of male insects and the term was first used by Karl Wilhelm Verhoeff, Verhoeff in 1893 for the lateral genital lobes in Coleoptera. The primary phallic lobes which appear in th ...
s. The parameres also have a more dorsal orientation and curvature, making them especially unique among ''Prenolepis'' genus-group males.
Larvae
In comparison with
larva
A larva (; plural larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle.
The ...
e of ''Nylanderia'' species, those of ''Paratrechina longicornis'' in the corresponding
instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...
s generally appear to be smaller in overall body size. Larvae of ''Paratrechina longicornis'' also show little variation in mandible shape and high variation in head
seta
In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a number of different bristle- or hair-like structures on living organisms.
Animal setae
Protostomes
Annelid setae are stiff bristles present on the body. Th ...
tion patterns.
Reproductive biology
While most ant species exhibit
arrhenotokous parthenogenesis
Parthenogenesis (; from the Greek grc, παρθένος, translit=parthénos, lit=virgin, label=none + grc, γένεσις, translit=génesis, lit=creation, label=none) is a natural form of asexual reproduction in which growth and development ...
in which
diploid
Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...
, fertilized eggs become females (workers or queens), and haploid, unfertilized eggs become males, ''Paratrechina longicornis'' is one of several ant species also known to be
thelytokous
Thelytoky (from the Greek ''thēlys'' "female" and ''tokos'' "birth") is a type of parthenogenesis in which females are produced from unfertilized eggs, as for example in aphids. Thelytokous parthenogenesis is rare among animals and reported in a ...
, and queens can additionally produce female offspring asexually. As a result, sibling mating allows
recombination of
allele
An allele (, ; ; modern formation from Greek ἄλλος ''állos'', "other") is a variation of the same sequence of nucleotides at the same place on a long DNA molecule, as described in leading textbooks on genetics and evolution.
::"The chro ...
s without increasing deleterious
homozygosity
Zygosity (the noun, zygote, is from the Greek "yoked," from "yoke") () is the degree to which both copies of a chromosome or gene have the same genetic sequence. In other words, it is the degree of similarity of the alleles in an organism.
Mo ...
and bypasses the downsides of inbreeding because the
genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ge ...
s of the queens and males within a colony are not linked.
Symbiosis
''See also'':
Myrmecophily
Myrmecophily ( , ) is the term applied to positive interspecies associations between ants and a variety of other organisms, such as plants, other arthropods, and fungi. Myrmecophily refers to mutualistic associations with ants, though in its m ...
Mutualism
Some species of ''Paratrechina'' have been reported to engage in mutualistic association with caterpillars of ''
Eurybia elvina
''Eurybia elvina'', commonly known as the blind eurybia, is a Neotropical metalmark butterfly. Like many other riodinids, the caterpillars are myrmecophilous and have tentacle nectary organs that exude a fluid similar to that produced by the ho ...
'', a
metalmark butterfly. The ants are attracted to the tentacle nectary organ of the caterpillars, which produces
exudate
An exudate is a fluid emitted by an organism through pores or a wound, a process known as exuding or exudation.
''Exudate'' is derived from ''exude'' 'to ooze' from Latin ''exsūdāre'' 'to (ooze out) sweat' (''ex-'' 'out' and ''sūdāre'' 'to ...
s rich in sugar and
amino acid
Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...
s.
The ants are thought to provide protection to the caterpillars against natural enemies in return for this source of nutrition. However, it is important to note that this observation was made in 1987, long before major taxonomic changes to the genus in 2010. The publication that describes this mutualistic behavior does not specify which ''Paratrechina'' species engaged in this behavior, and the only ''Paratrechina'' species currently known from Mexico, where this behavior was documented, is the
exotic
Exotic may refer to:
Mathematics and physics
* Exotic R4, a differentiable 4-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the Euclidean space R4
* Exotic sphere, a differentiable ''n''-manifold, homeomorphic but not diffeomorphic to the ordina ...
pest, the longhorn crazy ant (''
Paratrechina longicornis.''). All other species in Mexico that were thought to be ''Paratrechina'' at the time of this publication (1987) are now classified as ''Nylanderia'' species.
While it is possible that at least one of the species tending ''Eurybia elvina'' was ''Paratrechina longicornis'', this is impossible to confirm from the original publication.
Twenty-seven genera of
Actinomycetota
The ''Actinomycetota'' (or ''Actinobacteria'') are a phylum of all gram-positive bacteria. They can be terrestrial or aquatic. They are of great economic importance to humans because agriculture and forests depend on their contributions to soi ...
have been found in association with ''Paratrechina longicornis'' colonies and the soils surrounding their nests. These
microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe,, ''mikros'', "small") and ''organism'' from the el, ὀργανισμός, ''organismós'', "organism"). It is usually written as a single word but is sometimes hyphenated (''micro-organism''), especially in olde ...
s often provide benefits to insects by protecting them from
pathogen
In biology, a pathogen ( el, πάθος, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of") in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a germ ...
s.
Kleptoparasitism
Myrmecophilous,
kleptoparasitic
Kleptoparasitism (etymologically, parasitism by theft) is a form of feeding in which one animal deliberately takes food from another. The strategy is evolutionarily stable when stealing is less costly than direct feeding, which can mean when foo ...
ant crickets of the species ''
Myrmecophilus americanus
''Myrmecophilus americanus'' is an ant cricket, a wingless cricket that is an obligate parasite of ants and lives in their nests.
It is found living in the nest of the longhorn crazy ant (''Paratrechina longicornis'') and is kleptoparasitic on ...
'' are closely associated with ''Paratrechina longicornis'' nests from localities in tropics all around the world. Ant crickets live inside of ant nests and steal food resources, presumably through
trophallaxis
Trophallaxis () is the transfer of food or other fluids among members of a community through mouth-to-mouth ( stomodeal) or anus-to-mouth ( proctodeal) feeding. Along with nutrients, trophallaxis can involve the transfer of molecules such as pher ...
with worker ants. All known cases of ants in association with this ant cricket except one involve ''Paratrechina longicornis'' as the host ant species. The body of ''Myrmecophilus americanus'' is similar in overall size and shape to the
gaster of ''Paratrechina longicornis'' queens, indicating that this may be a form of
mimicry
In evolutionary biology, mimicry is an evolved resemblance between an organism and another object, often an organism of another species. Mimicry may evolve between different species, or between individuals of the same species. Often, mimicry f ...
that reduces the chances that the cricket will be detected within the colony.
In popular culture
The longhorn crazy ant (''Paratrechina longicornis'') made an appearance as one of the companion species to the eponymous superhero in the
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics
...
movie,
Ant-Man
Ant-Man is the name of several superheroes appearing in books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby, Ant-Man's first appearance was in ''Tales to Astonish'' #27 (January 1962) but first appeared in costum ...
(2015). Although the film refers to the species as ''Paratrechina longicornis'', the CGI-rendered ants and their behaviors in the movie arguably hold more resemblance to the Rasberry/tawny crazy ant. (''
Nylanderia fulva
''Nylanderia'' is a large genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae. The genus has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution with species inhabiting a wide array of habitats in almost all geographic regions. ''Nylanderia'', currently containing over 1 ...
'').
See also
*
Rasberry/tawny crazy ant (''Nylanderia fulva'')
*
Yellow crazy ant (''Anoplolepis gracilipes'')
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q148927
Formicinae
Ant genera