''Thaumatomyrmex'' is a

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

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 in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Ponerinae Ponerinae, the ponerine ants, is a subfamily of ants in the Poneromorph subfamilies group, with about 1,600 species in 47 extant genera, including '' Dinoponera gigantea'' - one of the world's largest species of ant. Mated workers have replac ...

, found from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. They are notable for their pitchfork-shaped mandibles, which they use to capture

millipede Millipedes (originating from the Latin , "thousand", and , "foot") are a group of arthropods that are characterised by having two pairs of jointed legs on most body segments; they are known scientifically as the class Diplopoda, the name derive ...

s of the order

Polyxenida Polyxenida is an Order (biology), order of millipedes readily distinguished by a unique body plan consisting of a soft, non-calcified body ornamented with tufts of bristles. These features have inspired the common names bristly millipedes or p ...

. The genus is a specialist predator of polyxenids, and one of only two ant genera known to prey upon polyxenids.

Taxonomy and phylogenetics

Thaumatomyrmex mandibularis casent0173030 head 1

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 ...

in 1877 to house the single species ''Thaumatomyrmex mutilatus'', discovered in Brazil. Since its inception, the genus has been placed in various

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

: Ectatommini,

Ponerini Ponerini is a tribe of ponerine ants with 46 genera and 6 extinct genera. It contains every ponerine genus except '' Platythyrea'', which is placed in its own tribe Platythyreini. Genera *''Anochetus'' *†'' Archiponera'' *''Asphinctopone'' ...

, Cylindromyrmicini, and its own tribe, Thaumatomyrmecini.

Molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

by Schmidt & Shattuck (2014) confirmed that the genus is nested within Ponerini. Twelve species has been described, and a few undescribed taxa are known.

Distribution

''Thaumatomyrmex'' is found only in the Neotropics, from Mexico to Brazil (including

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

and other Caribbean islands). The genus was once thought to be rare, but with better sampling techniques, the ants are now found more frequently.

Description

Workers are small in size (3.3–5.0 mm) and have pitchfork-shaped mandibles with three long teeth. They are specialist predators of

s of the order

. Polyxenids are an unusual type of prey, only known to be preyed upon by ''Thaumatomyrmex'' and ''

Probolomyrmex ''Probolomyrmex'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Proceratiinae. The genus is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics. The ants are very rare, and are rarely collected in the field, but they appear to be nesting in the leaf litter ...

'' ants. The millipedes are covered with hooked bristle setae, which entangles potential predators. ''Thaumatomyrmex'' use their long mandibles to hold the polyxenids before immobilizing them by stinging, and then stripping the prey from their protective setae. The brush-like hairs on the workers' legs are used to scrape the setae off "like cleaning a chicken".

E. O. Wilson Edward Osborne Wilson (June 10, 1929 – December 26, 2021) was an American biologist, naturalist, ecologist, and entomologist known for developing the field of sociobiology. Born in Alabama, Wilson found an early interest in nature and frequ ...

(professor emeritus, Harvard) in an interview in New Scientist issue No3005 page 29 Workers forage individually in the leaf litter.

Alate Alate (Latin ''ālātus'', from ''āla'' (“wing”)) is an adjective and noun used in entomology and botany to refer to something that has wings or winglike structures. In entomology In entomology, "alate" usually refers to the winged form of ...

queens remain undescribed, although Kempf (1975) mentioned an alate ''T. zeteki'' queen in the collections of the U.S. National Museum, this has however never been confirmed. Gamergates (reproductive female workers) are known from at least two species (''T. atrox'' and ''T. contumax'').

Species

*'' Thaumatomyrmex atrox'' Weber, 1939 *'' Thaumatomyrmex bariay'' Fontenla Rizo, 1995 *'' Thaumatomyrmex cochlearis'' Creighton, 1928 *'' Thaumatomyrmex contumax'' Kempf, 1975 *'' Thaumatomyrmex ferox'' Mann, 1922 *'' Thaumatomyrmex mandibularis'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Thaumatomyrmex manni'' Weber, 1939 *'' Thaumatomyrmex mutilatus'' Mayr, 1887 *'' Thaumatomyrmex nageli'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Thaumatomyrmex paludis'' Weber, 1942 *'' Thaumatomyrmex soesilae'' Makhan, 2007 *'' Thaumatomyrmex zeteki'' Smith, 1944

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q3496512 Ponerinae Ant genera Hymenoptera of North America Hymenoptera of South America