Pachycondyla apicalis

Wild, A. L., 2005, Taxonomic revision of the Pachycondyla apicalis species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 834, pp. 1-25 : 1-2

Ants in the Pachycondyla apicalis species complex are large, conspicuous insects found in Neotropical forests from southern Mexico to Paraguay. These ants comprise a small monophyletic assemblage of very similar species within a heterogeneous and much larger cosmopolitan genus, Pachycondyla F. Smith 1858 (c.a. 270 species, Bolton 1995), that is almost certainly paraphyletic (C. Schmidt, pers. comm.). Ants in the apicalis complex are epigaeic, predaceous, form small colonies, and are thought to display a relatively simple behavioral repertoire. Because these ants possess purportedly “primitive” traits (Peeters 1997), they have served as model organisms for studies of ant foraging (Fresneau 1985, Goss et al 1989), colony social structure (Fresneau 1984, Dietemann & Peeters 2000, Gobin et al 2003), and pheromone production and dissemination (Traniello & Hölldobler 1984, Soroker et al 1998).

Nearly all recent studies involving ants of the apicalis complex have employed Brown’s (1957) scheme dividing the group into two widespread species: P. apicalis (Latreille 1802) with yellow antennal apices and a rounded petiolar node, and P. obscuricornis(Emery 1890) with dark antennal apices and a marginate petiolar node. However, the existence of specimens that do not sort easily under Brown’s dichotomy (e.g., “sp. cf. obscuricornis ” in Wild 2003), a recent suggestion from microsatellite DNA data that the traditional species-level characters are flawed (K. Kolmer, unpublished Ph.D. thesis), and the discovery of cryptic species in related lineages of Pachycondyla (Lucas et al 2002) prompt a reconsideration of the taxonomy of this group.