THE ANT LARVAE OF THE MYRMICINE TRIBE 
MYRMICINI 1 
By George C. Wheeler and Jeanette Wheeler 
Department of Biology, University of North Dakota 
The tribe Myrmicini comprises four genera: the New 
World Pogonomyrmex, with some three dozen species; the 
rare Ethiopian Cratomyrmex (which may not even belong 
in this tribe), with only two species; the common Holarctic 
(and also Indomalayan) Myrmica, with about 30 species; 
and the Holarctic Manica with half a dozen species. 
This tribe is interesting partly because it includes har- 
vesters ( Pogonomyrmex and Cratomyrmex) , but chiefly be- 
cause it is the most primitive tribe of the subfamily 
Myrmicinae. (Wheeler, Bull. Mus. Nat. Hist. 45:660. 
1922). Wheeler {ibid., p. 24) regarded Hylomyrma as the 
most primitive genus in the tribe, with Pogonomyrmex 
next. Emery (Genera Insectorum, 1921-22), however, 
placed the Metaponini first, the Pseudomyrmini second 
and the Myrmicini third ; within the Myrmicini he put 
Myrmica first, Cratomyrmex second and Pogonomyrmex 
third; Hylomyrma is treated as a subgenus of Pogono- 
myrmex. Our studies on the larvae support Wheeler’s 
arrangement of Pogonomyrmex and Myrmica. Pogono- 
myrmex larvae are certainly more primitive than Myrmica 
larvae, as is evidenced by the following characters: the 
lack of anchor-tipped hairs on the abdomen; spinules on 
the posterior surface of the labrum coarse and isolated; 
mandibles stouter, with two large coarse mesal teeth and 
without mesal blade or concavtiy. 
In this article we have described the larvae of three 
species of Pogonomyrmex and eight species of Myrmica. 
References from the literature are cited for one other 
genus and five additional species making a total of three 
genera and sixteen species considered. 
1 The research on which this article is based was aided by a grant- 
in-aid from the Sigma Xi Research Fund. 
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