New-World Spread of the Old-World Robust Crazy Ant, Nylanderia bourbonica (Forel) (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Abstract

The robust crazy ant, Nylanderia bourbonica (Forel) (formerly Paratrechina bourbonica), is native to the Old-World tropics and subtropics. Its earliest known record in the New World was collected in 1924 in Miami, Florida. Here, I examine the subsequent spread of this species to other parts of North America and the West Indies. I compiled published and unpublished New World N. bourbonica specimen records from 446 sites, documenting the earliest known records for 24 geographic areas (countries, island groups, major islands, and US states), including nine for which I found no previously published records: Anguilla, Antigua, Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Missouri, New York, and Washington. The vast majority of New World site records for N. bourbonica (89%) come from Florida, where this species is now known from 37 counties. Most, if not all, of the 14 site records of N. bourbonica in North American north of 30.5°N come from indoors. Although the earliest record of N. bourbonica from Cuba dates to 1933, the spread of N. bourbonica to many West Indian islands appears to be much more recent. In Florida, N. bourbonica is a widespread, though relatively minor household and agricultural pest, and also is common in some more natural environments. It remains to be seen whether N. bourbonica will become a significant pest in the West Indies or elsewhere in the New World.

Bite force transmission and mandible shape in grasshoppers, crickets, and allies is largely dependent on phylogeny, not diet

“…They are two families with very specialized and different living environments. The ant crickets live inquiline with ants and obtain food by either grooming or trophallaxis for which they have modified mouthparts (Parmentier, 2020; Komatsu and Maruyama, 2016; Wetterer and Hugel, 2008). Mole crickets are adapted for digging and live mostly underground.…”

Analysis of whole‐genome changes and characteristics of Linepithema humile (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Republic of Korea

“…Anoplolepis gracilipes, L. humile and S. invicta have been designated as ecosystem-disturbing species in the Republic of Korea (Ministry of Environment 2020), and are continuously monitored around ports as major invasive species (Hong et al 2012;Kim et al 2019Kim et al , 2020Kim et al , 2021Kim et al , 2022Lee et al 2020Lee et al , 2021Sung et al 2018). These species are known to seriously impact biodiversity (Vogel et al 2010;Wetterer 2005), and are listed in the Global Invasive Species Database record of 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species (Lowe et al 2000). Of these, L. humile are native to the drainage area of the Paraná River in South America (Nakahama et al 2019), and have migrated to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and North America through human influence, causing adverse effects on the ecosystems of each country (Inoue et al 2013;Vogel et al 2010;Wetterer et al 2009).…”

Spatial Evaluation of Machine Learning-Based Species Distribution Models for Prediction of Invasive Ant Species Distribution

“…Ants are an intelligent species with high environmental adaptability and dispersion speed based on sociality through swarming; some invasive species have caused severe ecosystem damage [7]. Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and Anoplolepis gracilipes (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) are the most aggressive invasive ant species, and a global conservation campaign is underway to track and manage their invasions [8,9]. Solenopsis invicta, originating from South America and widely distributed throughout the US, has migrated to Asia and Australia [9][10][11].…”

“…Solenopsis invicta, originating from South America and widely distributed throughout the US, has migrated to Asia and Australia [9][10][11]. Anoplolepis gracilipes is a tropical species that mostly inhabits southern Asia and a few areas in Central America and Oceania [8,10]. Their habitats are likely to expand; therefore, they have been selected as the target species for SDM because of the severe damage induced by them in the invaded regions [12][13][14][15][16][17].…”