Cylindromyrmex whymperi ( Cameron, 1891 )

Herrera Léon Baert Wouter Dekoninck, Henri W., Causton, Charlotte E., Sevilla, Christian R., Pozo, Paola & Hendrickx, Frederik, 2020, Distribution and habitat preferences of Galápagos ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Belgian Journal of Entomology 93, pp. 1-60 : 10-11

Cylindromyrmex whymperi ( Cameron, 1891)

( ANTWEB: CASENT0173212). ( Map 6 )

A neotropical species whose origin in Galápagos is uncertain ( KEMPF, 1972; LUBIN, 1982; DE ANDRADE, 1998, 2001; BOLTON et al., 2006). Collected for the first time on Santa Cruz in 1906 (WHEELER, 1919), it has now been found on five islands. Little is known about C. whymperi in the archipelago. Nests can be found in dead branches ( Maytenus octogona (L. Hér.) DC. ). The species also uses galleries constructed by termites (possibly Incisitermes pacificus (Banks, 1901)) (WHEELER, 1924) . In the Transition Zone of Wolf volcano on Isabela, workers were collected inside a rotten trunk next to nests of the ants Camponotus macilentus Smith, 1877 and Camponotus planus Smith, 1877 . In the Dry Zone one worker was collected in an open forest of B. graveolens . On a recent ant survey on the summit of Alcedo volcano on Isabela, one winged female was observed on leaves of Scalesia microcephala B.L. Rob. This is the first record from the pampa zone at higher altitudes. On Fernandina and in the Littoral Zone of Floreana specimens have not been collected since the first records of STITZ (1932) and SILBERGLIED (1972).

Cylindromyrmex whymperi appears to have been displaced by the invasive ant W. auropunctata on Santa Cruz Island ( SILBERGLIED, 1972). This could be the case also for Floreana and Baltra Islands where S. geminata and the “destructive trailing ant” Trichomyrmex destructor (Jerdon, 1851) have invaded large areas of the islands ( VON AESCH, 2006; HERRERA & CAUSTON, 2010; HERRERA unpublished data).

Figures

Map 6. Distribution of Cylindromyrmex whymperi (Cameron, 1891).