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Eciton
Latreille 1804:179 Type-species Formica hamata Fabricius
1781; designated by Shuckard in Swainson and Shuckard, 1840b.
Ancylognathus Lund,
l831a:121. Type-species: Ancylognathus lugubris Lund, 1831a;
nomen nudum, monobasic.
Camptognatha Leach
in Gray, 1832:516, p1.76. Type-species: (Camptognatha testacea
Leach in Gray, 1832)= Formica hamata Fabricius, 1781; monobasic.
Mayromyrmex ashmead,
1905:381 Type-species (Labidus fargeaui (!) Shuckard, l840b)
= Atta quadriglumis Haliday 1834 original designation
Holopone Santschi
1924:11 Type-species Eciton rapax F. Smith, 1855; original
designation
Included
names
E. burchelli
(Westwood, 1842). Mexico to Brazil and Bolivia. (Map 8)
= E. foreli Mayr,
1886b. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. mexicanum
Norton, 1866b (not Roger, 1863a)
= E. burchelli var.
parvispinum Forel, 1899. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. burchelli var.
infumata Wheeler, 1909
= E. burchelli subsp.
viator Santschi, 1925a
E. drepanophorum F. Smith, 1858. Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador,
French Guiana, Peru (Map 9)
E. dulcius Forel, 1912. Costa Rica to Brazil and Argentina.
(Map 10)
= E. dulcius crassinode
Borgmeier, 1955 NEW SYNONYMY
E. hamatum (Fabricius, 1781) (Map 11)
= Formica curvidentata
Latreille, 1802a
= Comptognatha
testacea Leach in Gray, 1832
= E. pittieri Forel,
1899
= E. hamatum var
mattogrossensis Leuderwaldt, 1920
= E. hamatum var
funesta Santschi, 1921a
= E. amazona Santschi,
l923a
E. jansoni Forel, 1912a. Costa Rica to Ecuador (Map 12)
= E. velutatus Menozzi,
1926
E. lucanoides Emery, 1894c. Nicaragua to Brazil and Bolivia
(Map 13
= E. lucanoides conquistador
Weber, 1949 NEW SYNONYMY
E. mexicanum Roger, 1863a. Mexico to Argentina (Map 14)
= E. roqeri
Dalla Torre, 1892. Unnecessarily proposed to replace mexicanum
Roger, 1863a, not mexicanum F Smith, 1859b.
= E. (E.) latideus
(!) var moralus (! lapsus) Santschi,1923d. NEW SYNONYMY
= E.
(E.) morulum: Borgmeier, 1953
= E. mexicanum
subsp. argentinium Borgmeier 1955. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. mexicanum
subsp. panamense Borgmeier, 1955. NEW SYNONYMY
E. quadriglume (Haliday, 1836). Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil,
Paraguay, Peru (Map 15)
E. rapax F. Smith, 1855. Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Brazil,
Peru (Map 15)
E. setigaster Borgmeier, 1953. Bolivia, Brazil, Peru (Map
15)
E. uncinatum Borgmeier, 1953. Ecuador, Mexico (Map 12)
E. vaqans (Olivier, 1791.) Mexico to Argentina (Map
16)
= E. simillima F.
Smith, 1855
= E. anqustata
Roger, 1863a. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. brunnea Norton,
1871
= E. dubitatum
Emery, 1896a. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. inteqrum Santschi,
1921a
= E. vaqans var.
francanum Santschi, 1923d
= E. (Holopone) anqustatum
subsp. reichensperqeri Santschi, 1924
= E. vaqans subsp.
alloqnathum Borgmeier, 1955. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. vaqans subsp.
dispar Borgmeier, 1955. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. vaqans subsp.
fur Borgmeier, 1955. NEW SYNONYMY
= E. vaqans subsp.
mutatum Borgmeier, 1955. NEW SYNONYMY
Species of Eciton range from
Mexico to Argentina, and occur in a very diverse variety of habitats.
While some of the species will actively raid and forage under a
variety of conditions, most other species appear to restrict their
activity to periods of darkness or under heavy cover and are rarely
encountered in the open. Although species like E. burchelli
and E. hamatum will feed on pretty much anything they
can over power, little is known of the feeding habits of these more
reclusive species and it is assumed that they tend to be more specialist
predators on other ant species.
The worker caste is diphasic in most
species: there is a more or less continuously gradient series of
workers from small to large, beyond which is a soldier subcaste
with bizarrely elongate, curved, mandibles (Fig. 15-21,
23). Oddly enough one species: E rapax apparently does
not produce these extremely developed majors (Fig. 22).
The species of Eciton as currently
recognized are reasonably easy to identify, although ease of identification
is dependent to some extent on having majors available, as the smaller
workers in many cases do bear a great deal of resemblance to each
other. We are fortunate with this genus that the males of all but
a couple of the species have been associated with their respective
workers. Interestingly though when dealing with the male caste it
is mandibular characteristics which are of the most value in making
identifications rather than the genitalic ones which are so important
with Neivamyrmex and other genera. The reason for this is
that the genitalia of Eciton males are remarkably uniform and show
few useful characters or variation, while the mandibles for each
species are very distinctive.
Colonies of species such as E.
burchelli and E. hamatum may exceed one million individuals.
With the massive and highly visible raiding columns some of the
species form, Eciton is by far the most conspicuous and best
studied of all the army ant genera.
Eciton
raid
Eciton
head shots
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