FAQ for the Online Catalog of the Ants of North America

This is the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the Online Catalog of the Ants of North America. It can be found at www.cs.unc.edu/~hedlund/ants/catalog. It is maintained by Kye S. Hedlund email link.

Contents

 

Q. What can I find here?

This web site has information on every subfamily, genus, and species occurring in North America. (It also contains brief information about non-North American genera and subgenera.) For every North American genus and species, there is a brief overview, complete nomenclature, distribution, and an annotated bibliography. The genera (and subgenera) also have a diagnosis to aid in recognizing members of the genus and telling them apart from similar genera. Additionally, the site links to the Distribution Database containing over 35,000 records for North American ants.

Q. How is the information organized?

This site is organized according to the taxonomic hierarchy: species are grouped into genera and genera into subfamilies. All the subfamilies of ants are in family Formicidae which contains all the ants and only ants. This organization makes it easy to locate information about a particular species, genus, or subfamily. However, it is not possible to search based on other criteria such as: ants that nest in trees, ants that take slaves, bicolored ants, etc.

Q. How do I find what I want?

This site is allows quick access to a particular species, genus, or subfamily. There are three different ways to find this information. First, a name can be typed into the search box in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Second, you can get a list of the genera and species in a given subfamily by using the navigation choices on the left hand side of the screen. Lastly, subfamilies and genera can be accessed throughout the expandable lists in the Site Map found in the toolbar at the top of the screen. The Site Map can not be used to directly access species information, but you can use it to locate the genus and then scroll down to a particular species.

Q. How do I identify my ant specimens?

There are no identification keys in this site. For identifying the genus, there are two options. The easiest key for beginners to use is Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1990c (p. 1277-1294 in D.L. Dindal (ed.) Soil Biology Guide, J. Wiley & Sons). This is one of the few keys that is well illustrated. Keys that are more technical and precise can be found in Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990 (The Ants, Harvard U. Press, New World keys written by S. Cover). The genus illustrations in Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990 and the SEMs in Bolton, 1994 (Identification guide to the ant genera of the world, Harvard U. Press) will both be very useful. Note that the keys in Bolton's book are difficult to use. The Online Catalog of the Ants of North America has descriptions of the genera and subgenera that supplement keys. To identify to the species level, start with MacKay & Vinson, 1989b ("A guide to species identification of New World ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)" Sociobiology 16: 3-47) to determine which key(s) to use.

Q. Where do the maps come from?

The maps show actual distribution not the hypothetical range of the taxon. For each state colored on a map, there is data in the Distribution Database documenting its occurrence. A future version of the Online Catalog will include an interface to the Distribution Database.

Q. Is this just an online version of Barry Bolton's ant catalog?

This web site is an online version of Bolton's ant catalog plus more. The nomenclatural information comes primarily from Bolton's catalog, but this site also adds the following:

  1. Updated. All nomenclature has been updated to reflect changes since the 1995 publication of Bolton's ant catalog. The information in this web site is current and up to date. See the list of updates.
  2. Distribution information. It contains a Distribution Database that provides detailed information on the occurrences of ants in the Nearctic region and is the basis for the distribution maps in this site. The Distribution Database can be directly accessed through the ***** Experimental Screen Version of the Catalog. Please note that this version requires the use of the browser Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 5.5 or more recent). It will not work under Netscape Navigator.
  3. Recognition information. Each genus and subgenus has a diagnosis that explains how to recognize it and a differential diagnosis telling how to separate it from similar genera. This supplements the identification keys that are available in the literature.
  4. Overview. There is brief overview information for each taxon. The species-level overviews come primarily from the Smithsonian catalog (Smith, D.R. 1979).
  5. Bibliography. Each genus and species has an annotated bibliography. This is a complete list of taxonomic references and the more important references on natural history. The taxonomic references call special attention to the figures and descriptions that will aid in identification. The natural history references concentrate on factors such as habitat, nest sites, foraging behavior, etc.
  6. Citations checked. Many of the literature citations from Bolton's catalog have been checked versus the original source (see the errata for Bolton's ant catalog).
  7. Type information. For each species there is detailed information on the type locality and deposition of the type material.