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Genus Paratrechina (Subfamily Formicinae) - Online Catalog of Ants of North America

Genus Paratrechina (Formicinae)






Paratrechina arenivaga (Wheeler). This species nests almost exclusively in highly drained sand. Nest entrances are surmounted by a small crater of sand, usually of a color different from the surface or immediate subsurface suggesting that nests may be very deep (Trager, 1984b: 123).



Paratrechina austroccidua Trager. This species prefers mesic habitats at 1400-2000 m altitude (Trager, 1984b: 116).



Paratrechina bourbonica (Forel). This ant is pantropical and introduced. It is probably native to tropical Asia and spread by commerce to Indian and Pacific Oceans and to New World tropics (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1443).


Paratrechina bruesii (Wheeler). This ant is found nesting under stones near streambeds or in desert washes (Trager, 1984b: 133).



Paratrechina concinna Trager. This is believed to originally have been an ant of marshy areas and openings in swamps where it nests in grass tussocks and rotten wood. Today it is more readily found in pastures, lawns, drainage ditches, and drainage canals where it nests in grass tussocks, under discarded wood and cow dung (Trager, 1984b: 92).



Paratrechina faisonensis (Forel). This is a common ant found almost exclusively in mesic woodlands. The colony queen usually nests in a root or rotting wood beneath leaf litter. Colony fragments (consisting of partially sclerotized nurse workers and later instar larvae and pupae) are found near the surface of leaf litter or in rotting wood (Trager, 1984b: 97). The natural history and behavior of this ant has been studied by Nuhn and by Lynch, et.al. (see references below) making it perhaps our best understood member of the genus.



Paratrechina flavipes (Smith). This species has a preference for the same habitats as P. faisonenesis, mesic forests.



Paratrechina fulva (Mayr).

Paratrechina guatemalensis (Forel). The nests are often found in rotting wood but are also found under stones or in litter. It is found in semiopen or secondarily wooded habitats. Reports in the literature of this species are to be viewed with skepticism considering the taxonomic confusion with the Neotropical members of this genus (Trager, 1984b: 142).



Paratrechina hystrix Trager. This ant inhabits the desert.



Paratrechina longicornis longicornis (Latreille).


Paratrechina parvula (Mayr). This ant is usually found in open areas near trees such as forest edges and clearings (Trager, 1984b: 108). Nests are found under moss, in logs and stumps, beneath stones, or in open grassy areas where the nest may be surmounted by a small crater (Smith, D.R. 1979: 1444).



Paratrechina phantasma Trager. The natural history of this ant is very similar to the sympatric species, P. arenivaga (Wheeler). Workers forage at night all year long even in cold temperatures. It prefers xeric, scrub vegetation (Trager, 1984b: 128).



Paratrechina pubens Forel. Large colonies of several hundred individuals are found under stones or logs. It is restricted to open areas not far from the sea and may be found on beaches (Trager, 1984b: 145).



Paratrechina terricola (Buckley). This species nests in soil, usually beneath a stone, log, or cow dung. They are found in most soil types, except very sandy soils, and in habitats varying from open disturbed areas and pasture to mesquite and post-oak woodland and occasionally in denser more mesic woodlands (Trager, 1984b: 86).



Paratrechina vividula (Nylander). This ant is characteristic of open, often disturbed habitats such as beaches, parks, landscaped areas, farm fields, vacant lots, parking lots, etc. In Texas and Mexico it occurs in less disturbed rangeland and other open habitat. P. terricola is a sibling species (Trager, 1984b: 79).


Paratrechina wojciki Trager. This ant has very broad range of habitats and nests in a wide variety of situations including submerged rotting wood in depressions in the most xeric scrub, grass clumps , and beneath rocks. In north Florida, it is limited to the sandhills and flatwoods. In south Florida, where P. faisonensis is uncommon, it expands into mesic woods.




Genus Paratrechina
URL: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~hedlund/playpen/dev/ants/catalog/
Last updated: Wed May 23 07:42:10 EDT 2007
Copyright 2006, Kye S. Hedlund, University of North Carolina, hedlund@cs.unc.edu