Harvester-ants
Guides
Pogonomyrmecini
Pogonomyrmecini is a tribe of myrmicine ants established in 2015, containing three extant genera: Pogonomyrmex, Hylomyrma, and Patagonomyrmex. The tribe was erected following phylogenetic revision of the subfamily Myrmicinae. Members include the well-known harvester ants (Pogonomyrmex), which are conspicuous seed-collecting ants in arid regions of the Americas. The tribe represents a relatively recent taxonomic reorganization based on molecular and morphological evidence.
Pogonomyrmex colei
Pogonomyrmex colei is a workerless inquiline ant species in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is a permanent social parasite that lacks a worker caste entirely, with only reproductive queens and males present. The species is native to the southwestern United States, where it parasitizes nests of the harvester ant Pogonomyrmex rugosus. Its genome has been sequenced to study the genetic mechanisms underlying the evolutionary loss of the worker caste.
Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri
Hoelldobler's Harvester Ant
Pogonomyrmex hoelldobleri is a seed-harvesting ant species described in 2013 from the Mohave and Sonoran Deserts of North America. It was previously confused with P. magnacanthus but differs in having normally sized eyes, cephalic rugae that converge posterior to the eyes near the vertex, mandibles with seven teeth, and moderately to strongly granulate interrugal spaces on pronotal sides. Molecular phylogenetic analysis supports its close relationship with P. magnacanthus and P. mohavensis within the P. californicus species group.
Stenammini
Stenammini is a tribe of myrmicine ants established by Ashmead in 1905, containing six extant genera (Aphaenogaster, Goniomma, Messor, Novomessor, Oxyopomyrmex, Stenamma, Veromessor) and one fossil genus (†Paraphaenogaster). The tribe includes harvester ants that specialize in seed collection. Phylogenomic studies of the genus Messor indicate an origin in the Irano-Indian region approximately 20 million years ago, with diversification patterns strongly linked to thermal conditions.