Formicidae of the United States

This page provides links to checklists of the ant species occurring in some U.S. states.

You can find state specific ant information by clicking on the links directly below, by clicking on the map, or by clicking on the state names on the table below the map. All of the lists maintained on www.antdata.org (some links for a state do not point to a page on this site) represent work done by many others to collect, compile, and publish state species lists. I welcome your referencing, linking to, and citing this site but please realize these lists are mainly taken from information culled from other places. These sources are always prominently mentioned. If you have need to reference a checklist in a scientific publication also cite, or primarily cite, the original source. The refences given here also also fulfill another aim of this site; to point to authoritative references for state specific ant fauna information. Other state specific ant web sites that you can connect to from links provided here almost always contain much more faunal information than the basic checklists posted at www.antdata.org.

The uneven coverage of available checklists for the U.S. states reflects some of our current knowledge, or lack thereof, of the ants found in North America. We have a good understanding of the distribution of the majority of the ant species found in the U.S. (kye and MacKay's site). Yet there are large geographic areas that are still poorly collected, described, and characterized. There are also numerous undescribed species, and whole species groups, that require definitive taxonomic treatment. Having an accurate species list for each state would go a long way in helping to better understand the ant fauna of North America. This site can help you find this information, for states where it is available, and can also show where there remains important work to be done.