''Discothyrea'' is a
genus
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 nom ...
of small
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 ...
s in the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classifica ...
Proceratiinae
Proceratiinae is a subfamily of ants in the poneromorph subfamilies group, with three extant genera, of which most are tropical or subtropical, although overall distribution is worldwide.
Identification
The ants are relatively small to medi ...
.
The genus is distributed in the
tropics
The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in
the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also refer ...
and
subtropics
The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical and climate zones to the north and south of the tropics. Geographically part of the temperate zones of both hemispheres, they cover the middle latitudes from to approximately 35° nort ...
throughout the world, where they usually nest in rotten wood, in the
leaf litter
Plant litter (also leaf litter, tree litter, soil litter, litterfall or duff) is dead plant material (such as leaves, bark, needles, twigs, and cladodes) that have fallen to the ground. This detritus or dead organic material and its constituent ...
, or under stones.
Little is known about their biology, but ants in this genus are thought to be specialist predators of
arthropod
Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...
eggs and have been observed storing eggs in their nests (probably
spider
Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
eggs).
Species
*''
Discothyrea antarctica''
Emery, 1895
*''
Discothyrea banna''
Xu, Burwell & Nakamura, 2014
*''
Discothyrea berlita''
Fisher, 2005
*''
Discothyrea bidens''
Clark, 1928
*''
Discothyrea bryanti''
(Wheeler, 1917)
*''
Discothyrea clavicornis''
Emery, 1897
*''
Discothyrea crassicornis''
Clark, 1926
*''
Discothyrea denticulata''
Weber, 1939
*''
Discothyrea diana''
Xu, Burwell & Nakamura, 2014
*†''
Discothyrea gigas''
De Andrade, 1998
*''
Discothyrea globa''
Forel, 1905
*''
Discothyrea hewitti''
Arnold, 1916
*''
Discothyrea horni''
Menozzi, 1927
*''
Discothyrea humilis''
Weber, 1939
*''
Discothyrea icta''
Weber, 1939
*''
Discothyrea isthmica''
Weber, 1940
*''
Discothyrea kamiteta''
Kubota & Terayama, 1999
*''
Discothyrea leae''
Clark, 1934
*†''
Discothyrea maya''
De Andrade, 1998
*''
Discothyrea mixta''
Brown, 1958
*''
Discothyrea neotropica''
Bruch, 1919
*''
Discothyrea oculata''
Emery, 1901
*''
Discothyrea patrizii''
Weber, 1949
*''
Discothyrea poweri''
(Arnold, 1916)
*''
Discothyrea remingtoni''
Brown, 1948
*''
Discothyrea sauteri''
Forel, 1912
*''
Discothyrea sculptior''
Santschi, 1913
*''
Discothyrea sexarticulata''
Borgmeier, 1954
*''
Discothyrea soesilae''
Makhan, 2007
*''
Discothyrea sringerensis''
Zacharias & Rajan, 2004
*''
Discothyrea stumperi''
Baroni Urbani, 1977
*''
Discothyrea testacea''
Roger, 1863
*''
Discothyrea traegaordhi''
Santschi, 1914
*''
Discothyrea turtoni''
Clark, 1934
*''
Discothyrea velutina''
(Wheeler, 1916)
*''
Discothyrea yueshen''
Terayama, 2009
References
External links
*
Proceratiinae
Ant genera
Taxa described in 1861
Taxa named by Julius Roger
{{ant-stub