Linepithema Mayr

Ward, P. S., 2005, A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 936, pp. 1-68 : 26-27

Genus Linepithema Mayr

The introduced Argentine ant, L. humile (Mayr) , is abundant in many urban and agricultural locations in lowland California, and it has invaded natural habitats along rivers and in some coastal regions. Workers avidly tend plant nectaries and honeydew-producing hemipterans. L. humile aggressively eliminates epigeic (above-ground foraging) native ant species(Ward 1987; Human & Gordon 1996; Holway 1998). Most California populations of L. humile exhibit a unicolonial population structure, in which there is little or no intraspecific aggression, and they have reduced genetic diversity compared to native populations in Argentina (Tsutsui et al. 2000).

Additional references (a sampling only): Buczkowski et al. (2004), Carney et al. (2003), Gordon et al. (2001), Heller (2004), Holway (1999), Holway et al. (1998, 2002), Holway and Suarez (2004), Human and Gordon (1997), Ingram and Gordon (2003), Knight and Rust (1990), Longcore (2003), Newell and Barber (1913), Sanders et al. (2001), Shattuck (1992a, 1992c), Smith (1965), Suarez et al. (1998, 1999, 2001), Tsutsui and Case (2001), Tsutsui et al. (2003), Vega and Rust (2001).