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New Species: Lachnomyrmex amazonicus

By awild on October 1, 2008.
<i>Lachnomyrmex amazonicus</i>

Lachnomyrmex amazonicus - Feitosa and Brandão 2008

The new world tropics continue to be a rich source of species discovery.  Today's issue of Zootaxa contains a monograph by Rodrigo Feitosa and Beto Brandão revising the ant genus Lachnomyrmex, a small yet delightfully wrinkled group of soil-dwelling ants.  Of the 16 species recognized in the new paper, ten were previously unknown.  For the mathematically-challenged, that's more than half.

Lachnomyrmex amazonicus, pictured above, is one of the new species.  It has been recorded from lowland humid forests in the states of Amazonas, Para, and Mato Grosso.

source: Feitosa & Brandão 2008. A taxonomic revision of the Neotropical myrmicine ant genus Lachnomyrmex Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1890 1-49.

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I hesitate to say so, since I'm supposed to be a real ant taxonomist, but a lot of these little myrmicine genera all look alike to me. Nevertheless, good to have one more Neotropical ant genus updated.

By James C. Trager (not verified) on 02 Oct 2008 #permalink