Myrmecocystus
Guides
Myrmecocystus mendax
honey ant, honeypot ant
Myrmecocystus mendax is a species of honeypot ant native to Mexico and the Southwestern United States. The species exhibits notable intraspecific variation in social organization: populations in the Sierra Ancha Mountains of central Arizona display primary polygyny with cooperative colony founding by multiple unrelated queens, while Chiricahua Mountains populations are predominantly monogynous with single-queen founding. Mature colonies in polygynous populations contain an average of 6.27 queens. The species produces specialized replete workers that serve as living food storage vessels.
Myrmecocystus mimicus
Mimicus Honeypot Ant
Myrmecocystus mimicus is a North American species of honeypot ant in the genus Myrmecocystus, described by Wheeler in 1908. The species is widely distributed across the southwestern and central United States and into Mexico. Like other members of its genus, it exhibits the specialized honeypot behavior where certain workers serve as living food storage vessels. The species is part of the Mimicus-flaviceps group of honeypot ants.
Myrmecocystus placodops
Myrmecocystus placodops is a species of honeypot ant native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. As a member of the genus Myrmecocystus, it likely exhibits the characteristic replete caste—specialized workers that store liquid food in their distended abdomens. The species was described by Auguste Forel in 1908. Like other honeypot ants, colonies are subterranean and may be targeted by specialized myrmecophilous beetles such as Cremastocheilus scarabs.