Army ant

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There are over 200 known species of army ant, divided into New World and Old World types. All are members of the true ant family Formicidae.

New World army ants belong to the subfamily Ecitoninae. This subfamily is further broken into two groups, Cheliomyrmex and the Ecitonini. The Ecitonini group contains three genera, Neivamyrmex, Nomamyrmex, Labidus, and Eciton, the genus after which the group is named (Brady, 2003, [Tree of Life]). The most predominant species of Eciton is Eciton burchelli, whose common name is army ant and which is considered to be the archetypal species.

The Old World army ants are divided between the two subfamilies Aenictinae and Dorylinae.
* The subfamily Aenictinae is made up of a single genus, Aenictus, that contains over 100 species of army ant.
* The subfamily Dorylinae contains the aggressive driver ants. There are over 60 species known.

Army ant taxonomy remains ever-changing, and genetic analysis will continue to provide more information about the relatedness of the various species.

Contents

1 New World Army Ants

1.1 Life-cycle

2 External links
3 References and further reading

New World Army Ants

There are about 150 species of army ants in the New World (i.e. North, South and central America). They are all classified in the ant sub family Ecitonini. Although army ant species are found from Kansas to Argentina, few people in North America realize that there are plenty of army ants living in the US because most army ants only come out at night and many live underground.

Eciton burchelli and Eciton hamatum are the most visible and best studied of the New World army ants because they forage above ground and during the day. Their range stretches from southern Mexico to the northern part of South America.

Life-cycle

In Africa, thrushes of the genus Alethes follow army-ant swarms, as do some bulbuls in both Africa and Asia.

External links

Explore the New World Army Ant phylogeny:

[Tree of Life - Ecitoninae pages]

Personal website on research and computer modeling of army ants (with video and images):

[Army ant research page]

References and further reading

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