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Photo#1618484
Battigrassiella wheeleri?

Battigrassiella wheeleri?
Miconopy, Marion County, Florida, USA
November 23, 2018
Florida should be out of its range, but being found associated with fire ants could it have arrived here with the ants?

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This species was described from Austin, Texas along with its association with Pachycondyla harpax (Formicidae). However, it was found again in Louisiana by Paclt (1974) with no host-ant relationship reported (2). Most genera related to the genus were found inside ant nests, but species in "Grassiella" are also reported from leaf litter, termite mounds, under stones or bark, and even caves. Researchers have expressed difficulty determining if there is an actual association due to limited data available. Even though the genus and its relatives are associated with many different subfamilies of ants, the same species can also be found in empty nests or without host species (Mendes, 2012).

As for being in Florida, this species probably isn't really well known anyway. I'm not even sure if the Florida fauna of "Atelurinae" has been evaluated. Unfortunately, much of the information regarding specific-level characters in "Grassiella" are in papers of a language I don't understand well enough to get taxonomic information from. Undescribed species remain a possibility.

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

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