Paratrechina fulva (Mayr 1862)

Wild, Alexander L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 45

Paratrechina fulva (Mayr 1862) .

Prenolepis fulva Mayr 1862: 698 . [w syntypes examined, NHMW; Novara, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil].

Prenolepis (Nylanderia) fulva Mayr. Forel 1908a: 67 .

Prenolepis fulva var. fumata Forel 1909: 264 . NEW SYNONYMY. [syntype w examined, NHMB, Sierra Foncière, Paraguay (Fiebrig)].

Prenolepis (Nylanderia) fulva v. fumata Forel. Forel 1913: 246 .

Paratrechina (Nylanderia) fulva (Mayr) . Emery 1925: 222.

Paratrechina (Nylanderia) fulva var. fumata (Forel) . Emery 1925: 222.

Nylanderia fulva (Mayr) . Kempf 1972: 166.

Nylanderia fulva var. fumata (Forel) . Kempf 1972: 166.

Paratrechina fulva (Mayr) . Snelling and Hunt 1976: 122.

Paratrechina fulva var. fumata (Forel) . Brandão 1991: 366.

Paratrechina fulva (Mayr) . Fernández 2000: 145–149.

Paratrechina fulva is among the most abundant ants in Paraguay, particularly in open and riparian habitats. It can be distinguished from all other Paratrechina species in Paraguay by the presence of dense pubescence on the meso- and metapleura. Forel’s P. fumata worker syntypes are also densely pubescent, but they are darker than most collections of P. fulva . However, Forel’s specimens fall well within the variation of forms that I consider to be conspecific with P. fulva , so I synonymize P. fumata here. Fernández (2000), who provides a useful redescription and discussion of P. fulva , reached a similar conclusion about the identity of “ P. fumata ” from Brazil but stopped short of formal synonymy.