Formicidae - Neivamyrmex leonardi
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Family Formicidae
Neivamyrmex leonardi Size: 2.65 mm Group Guild Status Subtroglophile Predator Rare N. leonardi is a small, pale yellow, eyeless species (Photo 1) of native army ant, for which there are only two previous Arizona records, one sampled at Nogales in 1947, and a second in Tucson in 1965 (Snelling and Snelling 2007; 2012). There is so far only a single observation of this species from Kartchner Caverns, in December of 2006, where they were found at a leaking hose bib in the Big Room. It is not known weather this species may forage at the nearby guano deposit, but none were observed there during the recent study. This species is probably not responsible for any of the observed formicine trenches in the cave (see species account for N. graciellae). N. leonardi is apparently rare in the cave. It has also been recorded elsewhere in the southwest (not in caves) from western Nevada, southern California, east central Texas, and Baja California, Mexico (Watkins 1985; Snelling and Snelling 2007). |
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