Plants: Acacia (Leguminosae or Fabaceae)
swollen stipular thorns
extrafloral nectaries (EFN)
Beltian bodies
A. cornigera: canoe-shaped EFN; indehiscent seed pods; mesic habitats
A. collinsii: dome-shaped EFN; dehiscent seed pods; drier habitats
Ants: Pseudomyrmex (Formicidae)
nest-site selection (all)
host-restricted foraging (all?)
aggressive defense of extranidal territory (some)
nocturnal patrolling (some)
vegetation pruning (some)
| Ward 1989 | Janzen |
|---|---|
| P. ferrugineus (Smith 1877) | P. ferruginea |
| P. spinicola (Emery 1890) | P. ferruginea |
| P. flavicornis (Smith 1877) | P. belti (Emery 1890) |
| P. nigrocinctus (Emery 1890) | P. nigrocincta |
| P. nigropilosus (Emery 1890) | P. nigropilosa |
| P. subtilissimus (Emery 1890) |
P. ferrugineus group
P. ferrugineus: Mexico to Honduras; red color; aggressive defender; basal pruning.
P. spinicola: Honduras to Colombia; red color; aggressive defender; basal pruning.
P. flavicornis: Mexico to Costa Rica; black color; aggressive defender; no basal pruning.
P. nigrocinctus: Mexico to Costa Rica; orange color; smaller than above spp.; aggressive defender; pruning?
Unrelated species
P. nigropilosus: Mexico to Costa Rica; orange color; larger than above spp.; timid non-defender; no pruning; known parasite (Janzen 1975).
P. subtilissimus: Nicaragua and Costa Rica; tiny, much smaller than above spp., with long thin head; gray-brown color; timid non-defender; obligate associate of P. flavicornis? Inquiline? (Ward 1989).
Janzen, D. H. 1966. Coevolution between ants and acacias in Central America. Evolution 20:249-272.
Janzen, D. H. 1975. Pseudomyrmex nigropilosa: A parasite of a mutualism. Science 188:936-937.
Janzen, D. H. 1983. pg. 762 in Costa Rican Natural History.
Ward, P. S. 1989. Systematic studies on pseudomyrmicine ants: revision of the Pseudomyrmex oculatus and P. subtilissimus groups, with taxonomic comments on other species. Quaestiones Entomologicae 25:393-468.
Ward, P. S. 1993. Systematic studies on Pseudomyrmex acacia-ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Pseudomyrmecinae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 2:117-168.