Genus Strumigenys - Miniature Trap-jaw Ants

"This is a bone of contention among myrmecologists at the moment. Strumigenys is a large and somewhat unwieldy genus, but there is growing evidence it is in fact monophyletic, while the subdivisions Strumigenys (s.str.) and Pyramica are paraphyletic. [Hymenoptera Name Server] is technically correct, since it follows what the latest reviser says, that they are synonymous. At the Global Ants Project - EOL "summit" at the Field Museum this November, we rather grudgingly came to the conclusion that we must follow this, even if Bolton's splitting seems somehow more comfortable. So basically, yes, we should lump them all into Strumigenys. An interesting thread on the matter from my favorite blog." --J.C. Trager, 16.iii.2010

Strumigenys Smith 1860

close to 1000 spp. worldwide

The diversity for this genus in the US seems to be focused in the Southeast, where moist soil and warm climate provide an abundance of springtails, their preferred prey. There are fewer species out west and to the north. Specimens are small and difficult to collect, so this distribution may partially be due to the fact that soft soil suitable for soil extraction techniques are harder to find out west.