Superfamily FORMICOIDEA 1345 



desertorum Wheeler. N. Mex., Ariz.; Mexico. Ecology: Small colonies are in coarse gravelly soil 

 under stones. Found at lower elevations than coninodis. 

 Odontomachus kaematoda desertorum Wheeler, 1915. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., Bui. 34: 391. 



5. 



Biology: Cole, 1934. Ent. Soc. Amer., Ann. 27: 394. 

 insularis Guerin. Ga., Fla., Ala.; Mexico to Brazil, W. Indies, Cocos Is., Clipperton Is. Ecology: 

 Colonies may be in soil or in rotting logs and stumps. Possibly adventive in the U. S., 

 distributed by commerce. 

 Odontomachus insularis Guerin, 1844. Iconogr. Regne Anim. Ins., v. 7, p. 423. 5 . 



Taxonomy: Roger, 1861. Berlin. Ent. Ztschr. 5: 26 (worker, male). —Taylor and Wilson, 1961. 

 Psyche 68: 142 (distribution). 



Biology: Haskins and Enzmann, 1938. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Ann. 37: 149 (formation of new 

 colonies). 



Subfamily PSEUDOMYRMECINAE 



A small subfamily with one genus in the New World and several genera in the Old World 

 tropics. M. R. Smith (1951) named this subfamily Leptaleinae based on the genus Leptalea 

 Erichson, but later (1952) found an earlier valid generic name, Pseudomyrmex Lund, and 

 changed the subfamily name to Pseudomyrmecinae which has become vddely established. 



Taxonomy: Smith, 1951. U. S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Monog. 2: 788 (Leptaleinae). —Smith, 1952. 

 Ent. Soc. Wash., Proc. 54: 97-98 (Pseudomyrmecinae). —Wheeler and Wheeler, 1973. 

 Psyche 80: 204-211 (larvae). 



Genus PSEUDOMYRMEX Lund 



Pseudomyrme Lund, 1831 (June). Ann. Sci. Nat. Zool. 23: 137. Latreille ms.; vernacular. 

 Pseudom.yrmex Lund, 1831 (November). Notizen aus dem (Jebiete der Natur und 

 Heilkunde 32(7): 106. Latreille ms. 



Type-species: Formica gracilis Fabricius. Desig. by Smith, 1952. 

 Leptalea Erichson, 1839. Arch. f. Naturgesch. 5: 309. Klug ms. 



Type-species: Formica gracilis Fabricius. Desig. by Wheeler, 1911. 

 Myrmex Guerin, 1844. Iconogr. Regne Anim., Ins., v. 7, p. 427. Preocc. by Sturm, 1826. 



Type-species: Formica (Myrmex) perboscii Guerin. Monotypic. 

 Pseiuiom,yrmxi Guerin, 1844. Iconogr. Regne Anim., Ins., v. 7, p. 427. emend. 

 Leptalaea Spinola, 1851. Accad. Sci. Torino, Mem. 13: 68. Emend. 



Over 190 forms of Psevxkrmyrmex have been described, but only five reach the southern por- 

 tions of the United States. These ants prefer to nest almost exclusively in preformed plant cavi- 

 ties such as twigs and branches of trees, stems of plants, acacia thorns, and in culms of sedges 

 and grasses. Some species may be restricted to one species of plant or even to one part of the 

 plant. Among these are the acacia nesting species which nest in the swollen bases of the larger 

 spines. Janzen (1967) studied a case of obligatory mutualism between a species of Pseudomyr- 

 mex and Acacia in Mexico and fotind that the ant is dependent on the acacia for food and the 

 acacia is dependent on the ant for a substantial part of its life in order to produce seeds and 

 become part of the reproductive population. The ant colony protects the plant from damaging 

 factors such as defoliators and thereby assures its own survival on the plant which is its only 

 food source. 



Revision: Mayr, 1870. Akad. der Wiss. Wien, Math.-Nat. Kl. Sitzber. 61: 40&413. 



Taxonomy: Smith, 1952. Ent. Soc. Wash., Proc. 54: 97-98 (correct generic name). — Creighton, 



1955. N. Y. Ent. Soc, Jour. 63: 19-20 (key to workers of U. S.). —Wheeler and Wheeler, 



1956. Ent. Soc. Amer., Ann. 49: 376-379 (larvae). — Kempf, 1958. Studia Ent. (n. s.) 1: 434 

 (gracilis (Fabricius) group). 



Biology: Wheeler, 1913. 2nd Intematl. Cong. Ent., Oxford, Trans. 2: 109-139 (observations on 

 Central American Acacia ants). — Wheeler and Bailey, 1920. Amer. Phil. Soc., Trans, (n. s.) 

 22: 235-279 (feeding habits). —Brown, 1960. Ecology 41: 589-592 (ants, acacias and 



