army ant - New World Army Ants

A tropical ant with very reduced or absent eyes. It forms enormous colonies characterized by group foraging behaviour and frequent changes in nest site. A bivouac nest formed by living ants protects the wingless queen and the brood. (Order: Hymenoptera. Family: Formicidae.)

There are over 200 known species of army ant, divided into New World and Old World types. All are members of the true ant family Formicidae.

New World army ants belong to the subfamily Ecitoninae. This subfamily is further broken into two groups, Cheliomyrmex and the Ecitonini. The Ecitonini group contains three genera, Neivamyrmex, Nomamyrmex, Labidus, and Eciton, the genus after which the group is named (Brady, 2003, Tree of Life). The most predominant species of Eciton is Eciton burchelli, whose common name is army ant and which is considered to be the archetypal species. The Old World army ants are divided between the two subfamilies Aenictinae and Dorylinae. The subfamily Aenictinae is made up of a single genus, Aenictus, that contains over 100 species of army ant.

Army ant taxonomy remains ever-changing, and genetic analysis will continue to provide more information about the relatedness of the various species.

New World Army Ants

There are about 151 species of army ants in the New World (i.e. They are all classified in the ant sub family Ecitonini. Although army ant species are found from Kansas to Argentina, few people in North America realize that there are plenty of army ants living in the US because most army ants only come out at night and many live underground.

Eciton burchelli and Eciton hamatum are the most visible and best studied of the New World army ants because they forage above ground and during the day. Evolution of the army ant syndrome: the origin and long-term evolutionary stasis of a complex of behavioral and reproductive adaptations.. Army ants: the biology of social predation. Topoff (Ed.) Army ants.