Technomyrmex albipes (Smith 1861)

Oahu, Maui, Hawaii

Formica (Tapinoma) albipes Smith, 1861b PDF: 38 (w.) INDONESIA (Sulawesi). Indomalaya. Primary type information: Indonesia, Sulawesi, Tond, coll. A.R. Wallace; CASENT0102952; Hope Entomological Collection, Oxford Museum of Natural History, Oxford, UK (OXUM) AntCat AntWiki HOL

Taxonomic history

Forel, 1891c PDF: 98 (q.); Forel, 1908b PDF: 21 (ergatoid m.); Karavaiev, 1926d PDF: 441 (m.); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1951 PDF: 205 (l.); Crozier, 1969a PDF: 245 (k.); Yamane et al., 2018 10.11646/zootaxa.4410.1.2 PDF: 37 (w.).Combination in Tapinoma: Mayr, 1863a PDF: 455.Combination in Technomyrmex: Emery, 1888d PDF: 392.Senior synonym of Technomyrmex nigrum: Mayr, 1872 PDF: 147; Mayr, 1876 PDF: 83.Senior synonym of Technomyrmex albitarse: Emery, 1893h PDF: 249.Senior synonym of Technomyrmex bruneipes: Bolton, 2007b PDF: 68.Senior synonym of Technomyrmex detorquens: Bolton, 2007b PDF: 68.Senior synonym of Technomyrmex forticulus: Bolton, 2007b PDF: 68.Senior synonym of Technomyrmex albipes wedda: Bolton, 2007b PDF: 68.

- Kandy, Cottawa, Matale, Nawalapitiya.

Le nom de Motschulsky exprime beaucoup mieux la coloration typique de cette espece que celui plus ancien de F. Smith.

De deux femelles portant des moignons d'ailes, l'une est normale, l'autre a la tete. plus petite, depourvue d'ocelles. Deux autres exemplaires ressemblent a de grosses ouvrieres ayant le mesonotum tres developpe, dont la portion scutellaire fait saillie en arriere.

M. le professeur A. Forel a decrit, dans le grand ouvrage de Grandidier, sous le nom de T. albipes , une forme de Madagascar qui merite d'etre separee comme sous-espece distincte ( Foreli , n. subsp. ). Elle differe du type indien et malais par ses antennes un peu plus courtes, dont le scape depasse a peine le bord occipital, et par ses antennes et ses pattes entierement testacees. Chez le type, le scape depasse notablement le bord occipital et les pattes sont d'un brun fonce, avec les trochanters, genoux et tarses d'un jaune pale; les scapes sont noirs, le flagellum souvent roussatre.

- Vrijburg, Bloemfontein. Identique aux exemplaires de Madagascar, sur lesquels j'ai fonde cette sous-espece.

Indische Art.

Das nahezu totale Fehlen von Dolichoderiden in der afrikanischen Fauna ist einer ihrer auffaelligsten Zuege. Ich kenne keine einzige Art dieser Subfamilie, die der afrikanischen Fauna eigen waere. Ebensowenig gibt es eigene afrikanische Prenolepis-Arten, waehrend Madagascar sehr reich an eigenen Arten dieser Gattung ist.

- Forme de l'Inde et de Madagascar.

Lombok, Sapit, 2000 ' h., 11 [[ worker ]], Mai - Juin 1896 (Fruhstorfer!).

— [[ worker ]].

[[ worker ]] [[ queen ]] [[ male ]]. Seychelles: Silhouette, Mare aux Cochons et Mont Pot-a-eau (1000 a 1500 pieds); Mahe, Anonyme Island, Cascade Estate, etc.

(Fig. 5)

Tramp species, in hothouses, Palaearctic, potentially to be imported to the New World.

Technomyrmex albipes (F. Smith)

Technomyrmex albipes (Figure 21) was the exclusive or strongly predominant ant in all three of the areas sampled. Several subpopulations of H. laurifolia in Sinharaja Forest Reserve, including those over one kilometer from the nearest road, have 100% occupation by this ant. Wilson and Taylor (1967:84) noted that T. albipes “is the most widespread of all the Indo-Australian Technomyrmex, ranging as a dominant ant from India to eastern Australia and throughout the Pacific, including Melanesia and Micronesia.” It is a highly successful, vagile species and has colonized many of the Pacific islands as far east as Hawaii and the Marquesas.

The behavioral and colony features of Technomyrmex albipes that make it such a successful pest species of humans also make it a strong colonizer of H. laurifolia. The species develops very large polydomous colonies containing up to several million adults (Yamauchi et al., 1991). Those authors have shown that new colonies often are established by numerous wingless females that are inseminated by wingless males from the same colony. This method of colony extension, by simply moving up the plant onto new branch systems without the dangers of nuptial flight and host location, works well considering the numerous flushes of new internodes characteristic of leafing in H. laurifolia. The horizontal orientation of its branches, which at times droop to form bridges between stems, places large numbers of nesting sites in close physical proximity. In addition, the large, almost monotypic aggregations of closely placed plants provide a good situation for colonization by wingless females.

On H. laurifolia, T. albipes is very secretive, and on a tree lacking flowers or new leaves, it is difficult to find this ant outside of the internodes. The few patrolling ants must, however, be very efficient at finding nectaries, as a small deposit of honey/fish mixture placed on a leaf surface is usually located by one or two ants within five to 10 minutes, and recruitment of hundreds of individuals occurs within 20 to 30 minutes of bait placement. When an inflorescence or new flush develops, however, ants actively visit each new nectary produced in a diffuse manner so that all new tissues receive an ant guard. This is very different from their mass visiting of a single drop of honey placed on a leaf.

Humboldtia laurifolia contributes to the large ant colonies by a diffuse phenology of leafing and flowering. There are periods of heavy leafing and flowering at regular times during the year, but the constant smaller supply of new nectaries provides the ant colony with a continuous supply of nutrients throughout the year.

In towns, the ant uses pre-existing cracks and crevices as access to building foundations and wall structures for its colonies. In houses, the species is a constant scourge of unattended sweets and meat left lying about. Interestingly, FRR and MMR also have found it nesting in bare soil in a new cashew nut planting. The cashew tree possesses large numbers of leaf and inflorescence nectaries, and T. albipes is a regular visitor on this plant (Rickson and Rickson, 1998). The ant also is considered a pest as it regularly tends coccids on various plants, including the important crops cacao, Theobroma cacao (L.), and coffee, Coffea arabica L.; however, it does not tend coccids on H. laurifolia, which can be viewed as a benefit to its host.

Given the ubiquitous presence of the ant in towns and villages within Sri Lanka, the species seems to have a very narrow habitat range in the field. As part of another effort to census ants in Sinharaja, we baited numerous ground locations, as well as other vegetation in the immediate area of H. laurifolia populations, and never attracted T. albipes, except to bait placed directly on H. laurifolia. Conversely, we never found another ant at bait placed on H. laurifolia when T. albipes was the resident ant. Ground baiting attracted numerous other ant taxa exhibiting the usual variety of dominance and recruiting abilities. In field habitats, both disturbed and undisturbed, T. albipes is not an apparent ant species, and one would miss it if bait were not placed directly on H. laurifolia. Technomyrmex albipes is easily attracted, however, to bait in all locations around buildings, yards, and town vegetation in general.

In the artificial setting of the Peradeniya Botanical Garden, 7°17′N, 80°40′E, Figure 1D), Oecophylla smaragdina shares H. laurifolia with T. albipes, but it does not normally forage out of the tree canopy if only leaf nectaries are present. It will, however, descend and intermingle with T. albipes to visit lower-placed inflorescences, presumably due to the 60 large nectaries associated with each inflorescence. There is no apparent antagonism when the two taxa meet. Oecophylla smaragdina was not found associated with H. laurifolia in natural populations. Bower (1887) reported Technomyrmex on the same plants over 100 years ago.

Technomyrmex albipes is considered native to Southeast Asia. Because it consistently occupies H. laurifolia in both degraded roadside habitats and in the undisturbed, primary rainforest of Sinharaja, completely separated from any access roads, we consider H. laurifolia to be its natural habitat. That is, T. albipes is probably an arboreal inhabitant of cracks and small spaces, most often in trees or dead wood, and the self-opening, multiple internodes of H. laurifolia historically offered such natural nest locations. Over geological time, the ant and its host plant have evolved the tight relationship found in Sri Lanka.

Technomyrmex albipes, commonly known as the white-footed ant, is a species of ant first described in 1861 from Sulawesi, Indonesia by the British entomologist Frederick Smith. Invasive pest ants in Florida, previously identified as T. albipes, have now been separated as Technomyrmex difficilis, both forming part of a species complex with a worldwide distribution.

Technomyrmex albipes é uma espécie de formiga do gênero Technomyrmex.

Муравей Technomyrmex albipes Муравей Technomyrmex albipes

Technomyrmex albipes (лат. ) — вид муравьёв рода Technomyrmex из подсемейства долиходерины (Dolichoderinae, Tapinomini). Инвазивный вид.