This checklist is based on Wheeler and Wheeler (1988) and contains 76 species. The records used by Wheeler and Wheeler include: G.C. and J. Wheelers' personal collection, Borchert and Anderson (1973), Youngs and Campbell (1984), and specimen records from W.S. Creighton, D.R. Smith, Roy R. Snelling, and M. W. Wing. The status of each name given in the checklist was verified (Bolton 1995) and, where necessary, changed to reflect currently accepted names.
The ant fauna of Montana certainly includes a number of undescribed species. Some of our common North American genera, like Formica and Myrmica, are sorely in need of a taxonomic revision. Until these and other poorly described groups are revised and our western ant fauna is better characterized, this list will have to serve as our best estimate of the ant fauna found within Montana's borders.
Printable PDF - MT species list
Subfamily DolichoderinaeDorymyrmex insana [Conomyrma insana]Forelius pruinosus [?]Tapinoma sessile Subfamily FormicinaeAcanthomyops coloradensisAcanthomyops interjectus Acanthomyops latipes Acanthomyops murphyi Acanthomyops occidentalis Camponotus herculeanus Camponotus laevigatus Camponotus modoc Camponotus vicinus Formica adamsi whymperi [Formica whymperi] Formica altipetens Formica argentea Formica aserva [Formica subnuda] Formica bradleyi Formica ciliata Formica comata Formica criniventris Formica curiosa Formica dakotensis Formica fossaceps Formica fusca Formica hewitti Formica integroides Formica laeviceps Formica lasioides Formica limata Formica microgyna Formica montana Formica neoclara Formica neogagates Formica neorufibarbis Formica obscuripes Formica obscuriventris Formica obtusopilosa Formica opaciventris Formica oreas Formica puberula Formica querquetulana [?]Formica ravida [Formica haemorrhoidalis] |
Formicidae (continued from bottom of previous column) Formica rubicunda [?]Formica spatulata [?]Formica subpolita Formica subsericea [?]Lasius alienus Lasius crypticus Lasius fallax Lasius flavus Lasius neoniger Lasius pallitarsis [Lasius sitiens] Lasius sitkaensis Lasius subumbratus Lasius umbratus Polyergus breviceps Subfamily MyrmicinaeAphaenogaster occidentalisCrematogaster cerasi Formicoxenus provancher [Leptothorax provancheri] Leptothorax muscorum [1]Leptothorax nevadensis Leptothorax rugatulus Manica hunteri Messor lobognathus [Veromessor lobognathus] Monomorium minimum Myrmecina americana Myrmecina emeryana Myrmica brevisponosa Myrmica fracticornis Myrmica incompleta [Myrmica brevinodis] Myrmica lobifrons Myrmica monticola Myrmica tahoensis Pogonomyrmex occidentalis Pogonomyrmex salinus [Pogonomyrmex owywheei] Solenopsis molesta [2] |
Listings with two names provide the current valid species
name, as given in Bolton 1995, followed by the species
name as it originally appeared in Wheeler and Wheeler 1988.
[?] the occurrence of this species in Montana is questionable
and needs to be verified.
[1] this species is more likely a species complex
[2] this species is actually an undescribed Diplorhoptrum found in the western United States
Bibliography:
Bolton, B. 1995. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Borchert, H. F., and N. L. Anderson. 1973. The ants of the Bearpaw Mountains of Montana (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 46:200-224.
Wheeler, G. C., and J. Wheeler. 1988. A checklist of the ants of Montana. Psyche. 95:101-114.
Youngs, L. C., and R. W. Campbell. 1984. Ants preying on pupae of the western spruce budworm, Choristoneura occidentalis (Lepidoptera:Tortricidae), in eastern Oregon and western Montana. Canadian Entomologist. 116:1665-1669.
This page was last modified on December 31, 2005
If you have any questions or comments about this page please send a message to: