The ant genus Smithistruma: a first supplement to the world revision (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

Abstract

This paper is meant to expand and correct the world revision of Smithistruma contained in my revisionary studies of tribe Dacetini (1953, Amer. Midi. Nat., 50: 1-137). Described below are four aberrant new species from the New World; taking ac count of three species described elsewhere since 1953, and syn onymies proposed below, we find that the number of species known for the genus now exceeds 60. But even as this paper was being prepared, a number of new species of Smithistruma came in for study or were collected by myself on field trips. Formal description of these species must be deferred, but it is obvious from the rate of accumulation of novelties, especially from tropi cal areas, that the number of species will eventually pass the count I predicted in 1953 (150 species). I have included brief notes on some species previously de scribed, particularly from North America, wherever these add to the knowledge of the range, ecology or variation of the species. Measurements and proportions given are explained in the 1953 paper.