Ant Research Roundup

Kaspari et al. discover that coastal ants avoid salt while inland ants can't get enough.

Kaspari, M., Yanoviak, S. P., and Dudley, R. 2008. On the biogeography of salt limitation: a study of ant communities. PNAS early edition


Barry Bolton and Brian Fisher continue their taxonomic work on the African ponerines in a recent issue of Zootaxa.  The paper establishes a new genus, Feroponera.

Bolton, B. & Fisher, B. L. 2008. Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera Centromyrmex Mayr, Promyopias Santschi gen. rev. and Feroponera gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1929: 1-37.

Lori Lach and Melissa Thomas review the state of invasive ants in Australia.
Lach, L. and Thomas, M. L. 2008. Invasive ants in Australia: documented and potential ecological consequences. Australian Journal of Entomology 47: 275-288.

More like this

Phrynoponera transversa Bolton & Fisher 2008 Gabon Barry Bolton and Brian Fisher have revised the African ponerine genus Phrynoponera, in a monograph appearing today in Zootaxa.  Phrynoponera are stout, heavily-armored predatory ants comprising a handful of poorly known species. Bolton and…
Aptinoma antongil Fisher 2009 Brian Fisher has a paper out in Zootaxa this week describing a pair of new ant genera from Madagascar.  Aptinoma and Ravavy are small ants in the subfamily dolichoderinae related to Tapinoma and Technomyrmex.  Apparently, the backstory on these new ants is that…
Finally, a solid taxonomy for the Australian Aphaenogaster:   Shattuck, S. 2008. Australian ants of the genus Aphaenogaster (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1677: 25-25. ABSTRACT: The Australian species of the myrmicine ant genus Aphaenogaster Mayr are revised. Eight species are recognised, four…
This week the blogosphere is busy recapping 2007 with lists of top stories in politics, news, and celebrity haircuts. In all the hoopla surrounding year's end, somehow everyone seems to have forgotten the ants, even though the, um, fast-paced world of Myrmecology has made plenty of discoveries…