A synoptic review of the ants of California (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
Author
Ward, P. S.
text
Zootaxa
2005
936
1
68
journal article
39107
10.5281/zenodo.171144
7b235ee0-db22-4606-8a01-05936f594932
171144
Genus
Linepithema
Mayr
The introduced
Argentine
ant,
L. humile
(Mayr)
, is abundant in many urban and agricultural locations in lowland California, and it has invaded natural habitats along rivers and in some coastal regions. Workers avidly tend plant nectaries and honeydewproducing hemipterans.
L. humile
aggressively eliminates epigeic (aboveground foraging) native ant species (
Ward 1987
;
Human
& Gordon 1996
; Holway 1998). Most California populations of
L. humile
exhibit a unicolonial population structure, in which there is little or no intraspecific aggression, and they have reduced genetic diversity compared to native populations in
Argentina
(
Tsutsui
et al
. 2000
). Additional references (a sampling only):
Buczkowski
et al
. (2004)
,
Carney
et al.
(2003)
, Gordon
et al
. (2001),
Heller (2004)
, Holway (1999), Holway
et al
. (1998, 2002),
Holway and Suarez (2004)
,
Human
and Gordon (1997)
,
Ingram and Gordon (2003)
,
Knight and Rust (1990)
,
Longcore (2003)
,
Newell and Barber (1913)
,
Sanders
et al
. (2001)
,
Shattuck (1992a
,
1992c
),
Smith (1965)
, Suarez
et al.
(1998, 1999, 2001),
Tsutsui and Case (2001)
,
Tsutsui
et al
. (2003)
,
Vega and Rust (2001)
.