Colony Structure and Redescription of Males in the Rarely Collected Arboreal Ant, Aphaenogaster mariae Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Kirchner, Michelle, Bertone, Matthew, Blaimer, Bonnie B., Youngsteadt, Elsa (2023): Colony Structure and Redescription of Males in the Rarely Collected Arboreal Ant, Aphaenogaster mariae Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 125 (1): 77-88, DOI: 10.4289/0013-8797.125.1.77, URL: doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.125.1.77 Abstract.— Aphaenogaster mariae Forel is a rarely encountered North American arboreal ant that has eluded collectors for decades.

Here, we provide the first formal documentation of a whole colony collection of the species found seventeen meters high in the canopy of the North Carolina Piedmont. We discovered a mature colony with more than 1000 individuals, including workers, alate reproductives, immatures, and intercastes. We present the first images of the males, larvae, pupae, and intercaste workers, redescribe the male, and provide natural history insights and colony demographics for this elusive species.