Taxonomy and Distribution of the Argentine Ant, Linepithema humile (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

By A. Wild. 2004

116 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract The taxonomy of an invasive pest species, the Argentine ant, is reviewed. Linepithema humile (Mayr) 1868 is confirmed as the valid name for the Argentine ant. Morphological variation and species boundaries of L. humile are examined, with emphasis on populations from the ant’s native range in southern South America. Diagnoses and illustrations are provided for male, queen, and worker castes. Collection records of L. humile in South America support the idea of a native distribution closely associated with major waterways in lowland areas of the Paraná River drainage, with recent introductions into parts of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Subfields: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Genetics, Insect Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a725daa35cd1744856af4b0ac214d518dd045d96

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Citations in the corpus

Characterizing and predicting species distributions across environments and scales: Argentine ant occurrences in the eye of the beholder (2009, background): “Native to central South America (Tsutsui et al ., 2001; Wild, 2004), L. humile now occurs worldwide, especially in areas with Mediterranean-type climates (Suarez et al ., 2001).”
Impact of the Little Fire Ant, Wasmannia auropunctata, on Native Forest Ants in Gabon 1 (2006, result): “This relation to waterways is strikingly similar to patterns observed for other invasive ants, such as Linepithema humile (Holway 1998, Wild 2004).”
Seasonal spatial dynamics and causes of nest movement in colonies of the invasive Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) (2006, background): “Native to the Paraná River drainage in north-eastern Argentina and south-eastern Brazil, L. humile has become widespread through dispersal by human activity, particularly in Mediterranean climates ( Wild, 2004 ).”
The worldwide expansion of the Argentine ant (2010, background): “Workers of L. humile were sampled from 179 nests in 45 localities [5 from the native range and 40 from the introduced range (Wild, 2004)] spanning all six continents where the species occurs and several oceanic islands (Table 1).”
Worldwide spread of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (2009, background): “, warm dry summers and cool moist winters (WILD 2004).”
Taxonomic Revision of the Ant Genus Linepithema (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) (2007, background): “In contrast to introduced populations, alate queens are not uncommon in nests in Argentina (Wild 2004).”
Animal dynamics based approach for modeling pedestrian crowd egress under panic conditions (2011, background): “These ants are native to the Río Paran ́a drainage of subtropical South America (Wild, 2004), where flooding regularly forces colonies to evacuate their nests and seek refuge in trees (LeBrun et al.”
Consensual predictions of potential distributional areas for invasive species: a case study of Argentine ants in the Iberian Peninsula (2009, background): “Native to the Ri´ od e la Plata region in South America (Tsutsui et al. 2001; Wild 2004 ), Argentine ants are now established in many Mediterranean-type and subtropical areas worldwide (Suarez et al. 2001).”