Synonyms
Acorn ants; House-hunting ants; Rock ants
Myrmicine ants of the genus Temnothorax are generally small (body length 2–4 mm), with colony sizes ranging from fewer than 100 workers up to large, polydomous colonies of 1300 workers. There are nearly 400 named species in the genus, most of which can be found in the Holarctic Region, although with a few exceptions (e.g., four species in the Afrotropics) [9]. The taxonomic history of Temnothorax is closely linked with genus Leptothorax, with several revisions before 2003 treating Temnothorax as a junior synonym or subgenus of Leptothorax. In 2003, Temnothorax was revived as a genus with many junior synonyms: Antillaemyrmex, Chalepoxenus, Croesomyrmex, Dichothorax, Icothorax, Chalepoxenus, Macromischa, Myrafant, Myramammophilus, Myrmoxenus, and Protomognathus. Additionally, Myrmetaerus and Epimyrma are junior synonyms for Myrmoxenus, and Leonomyrma is a junior synonym of Chalepoxenus.
A notable feature of many species in the genus is...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
References
Alloway, T. M. (1980). The origins of slavery in leptothoracine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). American Naturalist, 115, 247–261.
Bengston, S. E., Shin, M., & Dornhaus, A. (2017). Life-history strategy and behavioral type: Risk-tolerance reflects growth rate and energy allocation in ant colonies. Oikos, 126, 556–564.
Buschinger, A. (2009). Social parasitism among ants: A review (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Myrmecological News, 12, 219–235.
Charbonneau, D., Poff, C., Nguyen, H., Shin, M. C., Kierstead, K., & Dornhaus, A. (2017). Who are the “Lazy” ants? The function of inactivity in social insects and a possible role of constraint: Inactive ants are corpulent and may be young and/or selfish. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 57, 649–667.
Foitzik, S., & Heinze, J. (1998). Nest site limitation and colony takeover in the ant Leptothorax nylanderi. Behavioral Ecology, 9, 367–375.
Foitzik, S., Backus, V. L., Trindl, A., & Herbers, J. M. (2004). Ecology of Leptothorax ants: Impact of food, nest sites, and social parasites. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 55, 484–493.
Franks, N. R., & Tofts, C. (1994). Foraging for work: How tasks allocate workers. Animal Behaviour, 48, 470–472.
Howard, K. J. (2006). Three queen morphs with alternative nest-founding behaviors in the ant, Temnothorax longispinosus. Insectes Sociaux, 53, 480–488.
Prebus, M. (2017). Insights into the evolution, biogeography and natural history of the acorn ants, genus Temnothorax Mayr (hymenoptera: Formicidae). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17, 250.
Sasaki, T., & Pratt, S. C. (2018). The psychology of superorganisms: Collective decision making by insect societies. Annual Review of Entomology, 63, 259–275.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Bengston, S., Charbonneau, D., Dornhaus, A. (2020). Temnothorax . In: Starr, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_125-1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_125-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90306-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90306-4
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences