Myrmecocystus mendax

Wheeler, 1908

honey ant, honeypot ant

Myrmecocystus mendax is a of honeypot native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States. The species exhibits notable intraspecific variation in social organization: in the Sierra Ancha Mountains of central Arizona display primary with cooperative colony founding by multiple unrelated queens, while Chiricahua Mountains populations are predominantly monogynous with single- founding. Mature colonies in polygynous populations contain an average of 6.27 queens. The species produces specialized that serve as living food storage vessels.

Myrmecocystus mendax by (c) Jake Nitta, some rights reserved (CC BY), uploaded by Jake Nitta. Used under a CC-BY license.

Myrmecocystus mendax casent0102813 dorsal 1 by Jen Fogarty. Used under a CC BY 4.0 license.

Pronunciation

How to pronounce Myrmecocystus mendax: /mɜrˌmɛkoʊˈsɪstəs ˈmɛndæks/

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Images

Habitat

Sierra Ancha Mountains of central Arizona; Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. Specific microhabitat details beyond these mountain ranges are not documented in available sources.

Distribution

Mexico and Southwestern United States. Specific documented locations include: Arizona, USA (Sierra Ancha Mountains in central Arizona; Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona).

Life Cycle

Colony founding occurs through either haplometrosis (single ) or facultative pleometrosis (multiple queens), with the mode determined by . In the Sierra Ancha population, foundresses are facultatively pleometrotic, establishing cooperative colonies without queen reduction. Incipient colonies produce minims and , some of which develop into (honeypots) for food storage. raiding between incipient colonies has been observed, and rare colony fusion events can occur with continued by queens from both original colonies.

Behavior

Exhibits intraspecific variation in colony founding between . Sierra Ancha foundresses display cooperative founding with unrelated queens and no aggressive reduction. Chiricahua foundresses show strong intraspecific aggression when forced to co-found and primarily found colonies alone. raiding occurs between incipient colonies. Queens from colonies with more show higher survival rates in experimental conditions. serve as specialized food storage within colonies.