The list of the ants of North Carolina is incomplete. More new records for the state will be found, as will be, it is nearly a guarantee, entirely new species. Our knowledge about the ants of North Carolina, like our knowledge of any insect, anywhere, is preliminary, bug growing. North Carolina is a hot spot for ant diversity, at least in part because it is at the edge of three major biomes of eastern North America, the appalachian mountains, the piedmont and the the coastal plains, once dominated by longleaf pine habitat. The ants of the mountains include many species, such as Camponotus pennsylvanicus, with ranges that continue North through temperature forests up into New England. The piedmont includes a mix of such Northern species and species from the coastal plain. In the coastal plain, one finds a few northern holdouts, but mostly the species in the coastal plain are southern. These species include things one imagines exist only in the tropics, such as leaf-cutter ants (Trachymyrmex septentrionalis) and army ants (Neivamyrmex spp.). Coastal plain ants would say y'all, were they able to talk. Instead, in their rare utterances, they simply squeak. Please take a moment to look at the ants of North Carolina, with photos provided by Benoit Guenard. With time we will add maps of each species and more information about each species' natural history. At North Carolina State, ants are studied in the labs of Ed Vargo, Jules Silverman, Rob Dunn and Coby Schal. For information about the study of social insects at North Carolina State, see the lunch bunch. As for the ants, here is our list to date and a few photos: Ants of North Carolina. |
| Recent publications on the ants of North Carolina |
Vargo, E. L. and P. R. Gibbs. 1987. Notes on the biology of the slave-making ant Polyergus lucidus Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Georgia. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 60: 479-482. Geraghty MJ**, Dunn, RR, Sanders NJ (2007) Bergmann's rule in ants: are patterns along latitudinal and elevational gradients congruent? Myrmecological News 11: 000-000. PDF Dunn RR, Parker C, Sanders NJ (2007) Null models and temporal patterns of diversity: assessing the biotic and abiotic controls on ant community structure. Biological Journal of the Linnaean Society 91: 191-201 PDF Sanders NJ, Lessard J-P**, Fitzpatrick, MC*, Dunn RR (2007) Temperature, but not productivity or geometry, predicts elevational diversity gradients in ants across spatial grains. Global Ecology and Biogeography doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2007.01714.x PDF Dunn RR, Parker C, Geraghty M**Sanders NJ (2007) Reproductive phenologies in a diverse temperature ant fauna. Ecological Entomology 32: 135-142 PDF Fitzpatrick MC *, Weltzin JF, Sanders NJ, Dunn, RR (2007) The biogeography of prediction error: Why doesn't the introduced range of the fire ant predict its native range or vice versa? Global Ecology and Biogeography 16: 24-33 PDF Buczkowski G. and J. Silverman. 2006. Geographic variation in Argentine ant aggression behaviour mediated by environmentally-derived nestmate recognition cues. Animal Behaviour. 71: 327-335 Alder, P.M. and J. Silverman. 2005. Effects of interspecific competition between two urban ant species, Linepithema humile and Monomorium minimum, on toxic bait performance. Journal of Economic Entomology. 98: 493-501 Buczkowski, G. and J. Silverman. 2005. Context-dependent nestmate discrimination and the effect of action thresholds on exogenous cue recognition in the Argentine ant. Animal Behaviour. 69: 741-749. Alder, P.M., and J. Silverman. 2004. A Comparison of monitoring methods used to detect changes in Argentine ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) populations. Journal of Agricultural and Urban Entomology. 21: 142-149 Buczkowski G., E. L. Vargo and J. Silverman. 2004. The diminutive supercolony: The Argentine ants of the southeastern United States. Molecular Ecology 13: 2235-2242. |