Taxonomy of some little-understood North American ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Author
Shattuck, Steve
Author
Cover, Stefan
text
Zootaxa
2016
4175
1
10
22
journal article
10.11646/zootaxa.4175.1.2
887d93ae-26dc-4192-87d4-5396e561df0f
1175-5326
160280
011B74BE-40C0-4606-9354-C637F83C3E43
Acromyrmex versicolor
(
Pergande, 1893
)
Atta versicolor
Pergande, 1893
: 31
.
Syntype
workers, Calamajué (as Calamujuet) [
29°38′N
114°25′W
],
Baja
California
,
Mexico
(National Museum of Natural History) [https://www.antweb.org/specimen/CASTYPE00618].
Acromyrmex versicolor chisosensis
Wheeler, W.M., 1907
: 705
.
Syntype
workers,
Chisos Mountains
[
29°16′N
103°18′W
]
,
Texas
(
O.W. Williams
);
Terlingua
[
29°19′N
103°37′W
]
,
Texas
(
W.M. Wheeler
) (
Museum
of
Comparative Zoology
) [http://mczbase.mcz.harvard.edu/guid/
MCZ
:Ent:21162]. New synonym.
Wheeler (1907)
established
A. versicolor chisosensis
from a number of workers taken by Judge O. W. Williams in the Chisos Mountains of southwestern
Texas
, and a few workers taken by himself at Terlingua, also in southwestern
Texas
. His new subspecies was differentiated from typical
versicolor
as being distinctly lighter and more yellowish in color, with much less pronounced sculpture and in having only a few (about 12) pointed tubercles on each side of the median gastral depression.
Creighton (1950)
pointed out that the number of gastral tubercles varies with the size of the worker in
A. versicolor
and small workers of both taxa have a similar number of tubercles.
Fowler (1988)
was of a similar view. Although additional collections from western
Texas
would be helpful, an examination of current holdings of
A. versicolor
has failed to convince us that Wheeler’s characters represent meaningful differences. The
type
material of
A. chisosensis
seems to represent little more than pale (likely faded) and lightly sculptured individuals of
A. versicolor
. Pending the discovery of evidence to the contrary,
A. chisosensis
is best regarded as a synonym of
A. versicolor
.
Acromyrmex versicolor
is known from northern
Mexico
(including
Baja
California
) and the United States (Arizona, California, Texas)
.