''Acanthognathus'' (Greek: = thorn, = jaw) is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

s that are found in tropical Central and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

.Brown, W. L., Jr., & W. W. Kempf (1969). ''A Revision of the Neotropical Dacetine Ant Genus Acanthognathus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae.'' Psyche 76(2): 87-109. There are 7 living species and 1 extinct species, '' Acanthognathus poinari'', known only from fossil records.

Description

They are reddish in colour and have long trap-jaws that can be compared to those of ''

Odontomachus ''Odontomachus'' is a genus of ants commonly called trap-jaw ants found in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world. Overview Commonly known as trap-jaw ants, species in ''Odontomachus'' have a pair of large, straight mandible (insect) ...

''. These predatory ants live in small

colonies A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

that typically consist of less than 30 adults. Acanthognathus has large, line-shaped jaws, each with an apical fork of 3 spiniform teeth that interlock when fully closed; Preapical dentition sometimes present but often absent. Jaws open to 170 degrees or more. Basal process of mandible a long curved spur that is minutely bifurcated apically; when the mandibles are fully closed, the basal processes intersect and are ventral to the labrum and at the apex of the labio-maxillary complex; when fully open the mandibles are held in that position by opposition of the basal processes alone. Trigger hairs arise from mandibles (one of each); trigger hairs lie flat against margin when jaws close, becoming erect when the jaws are open.

Taxonomy

The genus was established by

Mayr Mayr is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andrea Mayr (born 1979), Austrian female long-distance runner * Ernst Mayr (1904–2005), German American evolutionary biologist * Franz Xaver Mayr (1875–1965), Austrian gastro ...

(1887) to house the species '' A. ocellatus'', described from a single worker found in Brazil. Mistakenly, the name ''Acanthognathus'' was re-used by German

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

G. Duncker in 1912 for a genus of

syngnathid The Syngnathidae is a family of fish which includes seahorses, pipefishes, and seadragons ('' Phycodurus'' and ''Phyllopteryx''). The name is derived from (), meaning "together", and (), meaning "jaw". The fused jaw is one of the traits that th ...

fish, but that is invalid as it is a

junior homonym In biology, a homonym is a name for a taxon that is identical in spelling to another such name, that belongs to a different taxon. The rule in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is that the first such name to be published is the s ...

.Ride, W.D.L, H.G. Cogger, C. Dupuis, O. Kraus, A. Minelli, F. C. Thompson & P.K. Tubbs, eds. (1999). ''International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.'' 4th edition. International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. These are now placed in either ''

Dunckerocampus ''Dunckerocampus'' is a genus of pipefishes one of two genera known as the flagtail pipefishes. This genus is native to the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Oceans where they are usually found in reef environments. These species are elongated a ...

'' or ''

Doryrhamphus ''Doryrhamphus'' is a genus of pipefishes, one of the two genera colloquially known as flagtail pipefishes and are popular in the aquarium trade. The members of this genus are native to the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Oceans where they inha ...

'', as the former sometimes is considered a subgenus of the latter.Dawson, C. E. (1985). ''Indo-Pacific pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas).'' Gulf Coast Research Lab., Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Indo-Pacific pipefishes (Red Sea to the Americas). i-vi + 1-230. To further confuse, a genus of nemesiid spiders, ''

Acanthogonatus ''Acanthogonatus'' is a genus of South American mygalomorph spiders in the family Pycnothelidae. It was first described by Ferdinand Anton Franz Karsch in 1880. Originally placed with the brushed trapdoor spiders, it was transferred to the funn ...

'', is frequently misspelled ''Acanthognathus''.

List of species

References

External links

* * Myrmicinae Ant genera Hymenoptera of South America Hymenoptera of North America Taxa named by Gustav Mayr {{myrmicinae-stub