Ant, Queen (Lasius (Acanthomyops) murphyi) - Lasius murphyi

Moved

With all that golden fuzz on her face and relatively slender appendages, not claviger nor latipes, but Lasius (Acanthomyops) murphyi.

… James C. Trager, 15 September, 2010 - 4:53pm

Lasius and Acanthomyops

This is both a Lasius (genus) and an Acanthomyops (subgenus). Possibly Lasius latipes.

Acanthomyops is no longer a valid genus name. Ward (2005) sunk it into Lasius, and the new arrangement is widely accepted among myrmecologists. Both DNA and morphology indicate that Acanthomyops is a relatively young group that evolved from within Lasius.

… Alex Wild, 17 September, 2008 - 1:48am

Laisus vs Acanthomyops

Acanthomyops (Lemon or Citronella Ants), a group to which this one individual belongs while L. umbratus doesn't, are sometimes treated as a mere subgenus of Lasius.
For the while, Acanthomyops is considered a full genus in BG, hence Acanthomyops claviger would be the correct name.

… Richard Vernier, 12 September, 2008 - 5:01pm

Acanthomyops claviger

Thank you!

… Ted Kropiewnicki, 12 September, 2008 - 5:12pm

Thank you both!

Just getting to the genus with this fuzzy image is really great. I noticed that Nomina-Nearctica does not list L. claviger. Does it mean that its not in this region or that they are not keeping up?
Edit: Found Acanthomyops claviger at Discover Life,
Found L. claviger at Ohio-state,
So many names for same insect?

… Ted Kropiewnicki, 12 September, 2008 - 4:25pm

My comment

About Citronella vs. Lasius has to do with BugGuide having Acanthomyops (Citronella Ants, Lemon Ants) apart from Lasius. But the info page says "Perhaps more correctly classified as a subgenus of the genus Lasius". It seems some do.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/35553

… John R. Maxwell, 12 September, 2008 - 4:59pm

Thanks John!

And thanks for creating the species page.

… Ted Kropiewnicki, 12 September, 2008 - 5:15pm

Maybe

but I don't know how to rule out Lasius.

… John R. Maxwell, 12 September, 2008 - 3:58pm

Maybe

It certainly is a Lasius queen, and does look like it's an L. umbratus, or L. claviger. The only way to tell the difference that I know of is L. claviger will make the citronella odor and L. umbratus don't.

Even after that though, as I understand it, you still have to ID to species level. Though it's in one group or the two groups, it might not be that species the group is named for.

… MrILoveTheAnts, 12 September, 2008 - 4:07pm