Dorymyrmex Mayr

Ward, P. S., 2005, A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 936, pp. 1-68 : 26

Genus Dorymyrmex Mayr

These generalist, ground­nesting ants are frequent in open habitats at medium to low elevations. The two commonest species, D. bicolor Wheeler and D. insanus (Buckley) , are usually distinguishable on the basis of color, with the former being bicolored (head and mesosoma orange­ or reddish­brown, metasoma brownish­black) and the latter unicolorous dark brown, but some samples are intermediate in color. Snelling (1995a) describes additional worker differences in head shape and eye size, but these characters are quite variable and are not always reliable. This group of ants continues to be burdened with taxonomic uncertainties, possibly as a result of occasional interspecific hybridization.

Species identification: key in Snelling (1995a). Additional references. Berkelhamer (1984), Johnson (1989b), Martinez (1995), Snelling and George (1979), Trager (1988a), Wheeler and Wheeler (1986g).