Bothriomyrmex

Dubovikov, D. A. & Longino, J. T., 2004, A new species of the genus Bothriomyrmex Emery, 1869 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) from Costa Rica., Zootaxa 776, pp. 1-10 : 2

[[ Genus Bothriomyrmex ]]

The genus Bothriomyrmex is currently composed of 33 species, all of which are known only from the Old World: southern Europe, northern Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia (Santschi 1919, Emery 1925, Shattuck 1992). Little is known of the biology of Bothriomyrmex in general, but several species are known to be temporary social parasites, using colonies of Tapinoma to establish their own colonies (Santschi 1906, Wheeler 1910). Lloyd et al. (1986) found that the pygidial glands of B. syrius queens and the Tapinoma simrothi host workers contained the same ketone, and they suggested that this aids the queen in gaining access to the Tapinoma colony. All the known species have diminutive queens, so temporary social parasitism could be the mode of colony founding for the whole genus.

The species of Bothriomyrmex may be divided into Bothriomyrmex s.s. from the Palearctic and a separate group of species from the Indo-Australian region (Dubovikoff 2002, unpub.). Workers of the Palearctic species have palp formula 4:3, and the queen has a closed discoidal cell on the forewing. Oriental species have palp formula 2:3, and the queen forewing has a closed discoidal cell and some reduced cubital and medial veins. The Australian species have palp formula 2:2 and the queen forewing has an open discoidal cell. The American species we describe here shares palp formula and queen forewing characters with the Palaearctic species in Bothriomyrmex s.s.