Abstract
The ants of Saint Vincent have long been one of the most thoroughly documented ant faunas of any Caribbean island. Ant specimens collected more than 100 years ago on St. Vincent include 76 valid taxa. In ten days surveying ants on Saint Vincent, I found eleven species not found by previous researchers. Eight are widespread Neotropical species (Anochetus inermis, Camponotus claviscapus, Cyphomyrmex minutus, Odontomachus ruginodis, Pheidole exigua, Pheidole moerens, Rogeria curvipubens, Solenopsis corticalis) and three are Old World exotics (Cardiocondyla minutior, Syllophopsis sechellensis, Trichomyrmex destructor). Ant records from St. Vincent include more Neotropical species (72) and fewer Old World exotic species (15) than the neighboring Caribbean islands of similar size: Barbados and Grenada. Factors that may contribute to this pattern are that, compared to Barbados and Grenada, Saint Vincent has more mountainous terrain, more intact forest, lower human population density, and fewer international tourist visits.
Highlights
Many factors have shaped the biota of West Indian islands
Vincent not found by earlier researchers, bringing the total number to of ant species known from the island to 87
Vincent: Discothyrea humilis on Petit Saint Vincent, Neivamyrmex adnepos on Isle à Quatre (CASENT0318513), Neivamyrmex antillanus on Union Island (CASENT0729238), Tetramorium lanuginosum on Canouan (Wetterer 2010) and Petit Canouan (CASENT0767676–9), and Thaumatomyrmex zeteki on Bequia (CASENT0318451)
Summary
Many factors have shaped the biota of West Indian islands. Each island has a different balance of these forces related to the island’s origin, age, topography, current and past size, and degree of access by potential biotic colonists. The result is a varied collection of natural experiments in island biogeography (Wilson, 1988). Grenada, and Saint Vincent are the three southernmost major islands of the Lesser Antilles, a chain of oceanic island bordered to the south by the continental shelf islands of Trinidad and Tobago. In earlier papers, Wetterer et al (2016, 2019) examined the ants of Barbados and Grenada. I consider the ant fauna of St. Vincent
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