Genus Anochetus (Ponerinae)

• Anochetus Mayr, G. 1861: 53 . Type species: Odontomachus ghilianii Spinola, by monotypy. Anochetus provisional junior synonym of Odontomachus: Brown, W.L. 1973b: 278. Valid genus: Brown, W.L. 1978c: 549.
• Stenomyrmex Mayr, G. 1862: 711. Type species: Myrmecia emarginata Fabricius, by subsequent designation of Wheeler, W.M. 1911g: 173. Subgenus of Anochetus: Dalla Torre, 1893: 47; maintinaed as subgenus: Emery, 1911e: 110; Forel, 1917: 238; Kempf, 1972b: 21. Synonymy: Brown, W.L. 1978c: 552 .
• Myrmapatetes Wheeler, W.M. 1929b: 6. Type species: Myrmapatetes filicornis Wheeler, by original designation. Synonymy: Brown, W.L. 1953h: 2.

• OVERVIEW.   This tropical genus with 87 species is represented in the Nearctic region by a single species only recently found in Florida. These ants form small colonies with fewer than 100 workers and are predators on small invertebrates using their trap like mandibles to capture prey. They nest in rotten logs.
• DISTRIBUTION.   Southern Florida.
• ZOOGEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS.  Worldwide.


      
Photo of Anochetus mayri Emery from Trinidad and Tobago. Courtesy of Ant Web, U. of Calif. Davis


• RECOGNITION.   The genus Anochetus is one of the most distinctive and easily recognized of all ants. Mandibles long and linear with 2 or 3 apical teeth arranged in a vertical series and at most denticles along the inner margin; mandibles inserted in the middle of the anterior margin of the head. Head widest in the forward third and narrowing both behind and in front of this bulge. The top, backside of the head uniformly colored and lacking apophyseal lines (dark, V-shaped lines). The upper front of the head usually smooth (sometimes with a weak groove).
• SIMILAR GENERA.   The shape of the head and form of the mandibles easily distinguish Anochetus from all genera other than Odontomachus. Anochetus can be separated from Odontomachus by generally smaller size and lack of apophyseal lines on the back of the head.
• TRIBE.  Ponerini.
• Literature Overview.   See Brown's 1978 revision for the taxonomy and brief natural history of this genus.
• REVISIONS.   Kempf, 1964f: 237–246 (Brazil) .— Brown, W.L. 1978c: 549–638 (Anochetus valid genus, description, key to world species) .
• TAXONOMY.   Brown, W.L. 1973b: 178 (Anochetus a provisional junior synonym of Odontomachus) .— Lattke, 1987a: 353–358 (Neotropical) .— Wang, M. 1993a: 219–230 (China (in Chinese)) .— Bolton, 1994: figs. 456–458 (SEM (full face, lateral view, and head from rear) of w.) .—Shattuck, 1999: 181.—Bolton, 2003: 44, 159, 280.
• ALL REFERENCES

• mayri. Anochetus mayri Emery, 1884a: 378 (diagnosis in key) (w.) [Antilles Is., St. Thomas; Emery Coll., Genoa] Emery, 1890b: 65 (q.) .
• laeviusculus. Anochetus mayri subsp. laeviusculus Wheeler, W.M. 1911a: 22 (w.q.) . [Jamaica, (Troy)] Synonymy: Brown, W.L. 1978c: 557 (see also p. 617) .

• DISTRIBUTION. Florida (Dade Co.). Throughout the West Indies, Central America, and northern South America.
• TAXONOMY. Brown, W.L. 1976c: 74–75 (number of segments in maxillary palps, male) .— Brown, W.L. 1978c: 554, 557, 560, 561, 565, 573, 617 (a variable species not always easy to separate from similar species, may include two or more sibling species) .
• MISCELLANEOUS. Wheeler, W.M. 1908a: 125 (brief natural history) .— Smith, M.R. 1937: 826–827 (natural history in Puerto Rico) .— Deyrup, Johnson, et. al. 1989: 94 (occurrence in Dade Co., FL, first record from USA.) .
• ALL REFERENCES
• PHOTOS.