Dorylus wilverthi

Dorylus wilverthi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dorylinae
Genus:	Dorylus
Species:	D. wilverthi
Binomial name
Dorylus wilverthi Emery, 1899 Specimen labels
Synonyms
Dorylus nigritarsis Strand, 1911 Dorylus nomadas Santschi, 1935

A sub-Sarahan driver ant.

Identification

A member of the Dorylus nigricans-group.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 3.73503° to -4.416666667°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Cameroun, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (type locality), Ivory Coast, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda.

Distribution based on AntMaps

Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.

Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.

Biology

Dorylus wilverthi is a driver ant.

Butler et al. (2018) - Driver ant are a group of nomadic swarm-raiding army ants that are restricted to sub-Saharan Africa (Wilson, 1964; Gotwald, 1995). The group is comprised of approximately nine species (Kronauer et al., 2007; Scheoning, 2008) in the subgenus Anomma. Driver ants are top invertebrate predators with extremely large colonies that can contain more than 10 million workers (Gotwald, 1995). Unlike the queens of most other ants, army ant queens are permanently wingless. Instead of going on a mating flight, new queens mate within their natal nest with approximately 10–30 unrelated males that disperse on the wing. In driver ants, mating probably occurs within a 2- to 3-week period before the new queen assumes regnancy of her colony (Kronauer et al., 2004b; Kronauer & Boomsma, 2007), and the mother queen disperses on foot, taking a portion of the existing workers with her (Gotwald, 1995). Colonies of driver ants are monogynous, and queens are highly multiply mated.

In Kakamega Forest, Kenya this species co-occurs with Dorylus nigricans molestus (Garcia et al., 2009; Peters & Okalo, 2009; Kronauer et al., 2011; Peters et al., 2011). Dorylus wilverthi mainly inhabits intact rainforest habitat (Scheoning et al., 2006; Peters & Okalo, 2009; Peters et al., 2009).

Association with Other Organisms

 Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• This species is a associate (details unknown) for the phorid fly Aenigmatopoeus pseudokohli (a associate (details unknown)) (Quevillon, 2018).

Life History Traits

• Queen number: monogynous; polygynous; secondarily polygynous;facultatively polygynous;oligogynous (Raignier & van Boven, 1955; Mizuno et al., 2021)
• Queen type: dichthadiiform (Raignier & van Boven, 1955; Mizuno et al., 2021)
• Mean colony size: 10,000,000-20,000,000 (Raignier & van Boven, 1955; Beckers et al., 1989; Mizuno et al., 2021)
• Foraging behaviour: group hunter (Raignier & van Boven, 1955; Beckers et al., 1989)

Hybridization

Butler et al. (2018) found this ant and the co-occuring Dorylus nigricans molestus hybridize. Their study of the population genetics of naturally occurring colonies concluded: "hybridization is bidirectional and occurs at equal rates in both species. Hybrid workers make up only 1–2% of the population, and successful interspecific matings represent approximately 2% of all matings in both species. This shows that, although interspecific matings that give rise to worker offspring occur regularly, they are much rarer than intraspecific mating. Finally, we find no evidence of an association between hybridization and genetic caste determination in this population. This means that genetic caste determination is not a necessary outcome of hybridization in ants, even in species where queens mate with multiple males.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Male (alate). Specimen code casent0172860. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Phylogeny

Relationships among selected Dorylus species based on Kronauer et al. (2007).

Dorylus

Dorylus laevigatus Dorylus conradti Dorylus orientalis Dorylus fimbriatus laevipodex Dorylus fulvus Dorylus spininodis Dorylus mayri Dorylus nigricans rubellus Dorylus nigricans molestus Dorylus nigricans terrificus Dorylus wilverthi Dorylus nigricans burmeisteri Dorylus nigricans sjostedti Dorylus nigricans arcens Dorylus nigricans Dorylus emeryi Dorylus gerstaeckeri Dorylus gribodoi Dorylus kohli Dorylus emeryi opacus Dorylus braunsi Dorylus affinis Dorylus helvolus

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

• wilverthi. Dorylus (Anomma) wilverthi Emery, 1899e: 459, fig. (w.) DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO.
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-localities: Democratic Republic of Congo: Leopoldville (= Kinshasa) (Wilverth), and Unangi (Wilverth).
  • Type-depository: MSNG.
  • [Misspelled as wilwerthi by Forel, 1909b: 51, Santschi, 1910c: 352, and others.]
  • Forel, 1909b: 51 (m.); Raignier & van Boven, 1955: 86 (q.), 115 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. 1943: 321 (l.).
  • Status as species: Emery, 1901c: 185; Wasmann, 1904b: 674; Forel, 1909b: 51, 70; Stitz, 1910: 128; Santschi, 1910c: 352; Santschi, 1912b: 155 (in key); Forel, 1912j: 177; Forel, 1913b: 311; Forel, 1913h: 348; Forel, 1916: 402; Stitz, 1916: 373; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 48, 742; Santschi, 1939c: 7; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1984: 268; Raignier & van Boven, 1955: 58 (redescription), 86 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 181; Hita Garcia, et al. 2013: 204.
  • Senior synonym of nigritarsis: van Boven, 1972: 144; Bolton, 1995b: 181.
  • Senior synonym of nomadas: Raignier & van Boven, 1955: 93; Bolton, 1995b: 181.
  • Distribution: Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya.
• nigritarsis. Dorylus nigritarsis Strand, 1911: 118 (q.) CAMEROON.
  • Type-material: holotype queen.
  • Type-locality: Cameroon: Mowange, nr Bibundi (C. Feldmann).
  • Type-depository: NMSW.
  • Combination in D. (Anomma): Santschi, 1915c: 248.
  • Junior synonym of nigricans: Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 737.
  • Junior synonym of wilverthi: van Boven, 1972: 144; Bolton, 1995b: 179.
• nomadas. Dorylus (Anomma) nomadas Santschi, 1935a: 254, fig. 1 (q.) DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO.
  • Type-material: holotype queen (“captured without workers”).
  • Type-locality: Democratic Republic of Congo (“Congo belge”): (no further data but Santschi adds, “most probably Mayumbe”) (Gilson).
  • Type-depository: MRAC.
  • Junior synonym of wilverthi: Raignier & van Boven, 1955: 93; Bolton, 1995b: 180.

References

• Beckers R., Goss, S., Deneubourg, J.L., Pasteels, J.M. 1989. Colony size, communication and ant foraging Strategy. Psyche 96: 239-256 (doi:10.1155/1989/94279).
• Borowiec, M.L., Moreau, C.S., Rabeling, C. 2020. Ants: Phylogeny and Classification. In: C. Starr (ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Insects (doi:10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_155-1).
• Boven, J. K. A. van. 1972. Description de deux reines d'Anomma (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bull. Ann. Soc. R. Entomol. Belg. 108: 133-146 (page 144, Senior synonym of nigritarsis)
• Bulter, I. 2020. Hybridization in ants. Ph.D. thesis, Rockefeller University.
• Butler, I. A., M. K. Peters, and D. J. C. Kronauer. 2018. Low levels of hybridization in two species of African driver ants. Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 31:556-571. doi:10.1111/jeb.13245
• Emery, C. 1899d. Fourmis d'Afrique. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 43: 459-504 (page 459, fig. worker described)
• Forel, A. 1909b. Fourmis du Musée de Bruxelles. Fourmis de Benguela récoltées par M. Creighton Wellman, et fourmis du Congo récoltées par MM. Luja, Kohl et Laurent. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 53: 51-73 (page 51, male described)
• Kronauer, D. J. C.; Schöning, C.; Vilhelmsen, L. B.; Boomsma, J. J. 2007. A molecular phylogeny of Dorylus army ants provides evidence for multiple evolutionary transitions in foraging niche. BMC Evolutionary Biology 7: Article 56 (doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-56).
• Kronauer, D.J.C., Peters, M.K., Schöning, C., & Boomsma, J.J. 2011. Hybridization in East African swarm-raiding army ants. Frontiers in Zoology 8: 20.
• Mizuno, R., Suttiprapan, P., Jaitrong, W., Yamada, A., Ito, F. 2021. Colony composition, phasic reproduction, and queen–worker dimorphism of an oriental non-army ant doryline Cerapachys sulcinodis species complex in northern Thailand. Insectes Sociaux (doi:10.1007/s00040-021-00841-5).
• Nsengimana, V., Hagenimana, T., Barakagwira, J., de Dieu Nsenganeza, J., Iradukunda, S. C., Majyambere, M., Kizungu, O. B., Nkundimana, A., Umutoni, D., Fabrice, R., Cyubahiro, B., Kouakou, L. M., Kolo, Y., Anale, J. S., Gómez, K., Dekoninck, W. 2023. Checklist of ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) species from Nyungwe Tropical Rain Forest, south-western Rwanda. Journal of East African Natural History 111(2), 69-81 (doi:10.2982/028.111.0203).
• Peeters, C., Keller, R.A., Khalife, A., Fischer, G., Katzke, J., Blanke, A., Economo, E.P. 2020. The loss of flight in ant workers enabled an evolutionary redesign of the thorax for ground labour. Frontiers in Zoology 17, 33. (doi:10.1186/s12983-020-00375-9).
• Raignier, A.; Boven, J. K. A. van. 1955. Étude taxonomique, biologique et biométrique des Dorylus du sous-genre Anomma (Hymenoptera Formicidae). Ann. Mus. R. Congo Belge Nouv. Sér. Quarto Sci. Zool. 2: 1-359 (page 86, queen described, page 93, Senior synonym of nomadas)
• Wheeler, G. C. 1943. The larvae of the army ants. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 36: 319-332 (page 321, larva described)
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1984a. The larvae of the army ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a revision. J. Kans. Entomol. Soc. 57: 263-275 (page 268, see also)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Borowiec M. L. 2016. Generic revision of the ant subfamily Dorylinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 608: 1–280.
• Forel A. 1909. Fourmis du Musée de Bruxelles. Fourmis de Benguela récoltées par M. Creighton Wellman, et fourmis du Congo récoltées par MM. Luja, Kohl et Laurent. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 53: 51-73.
• Forel A. 1913. Formicides du Congo Belge récoltés par MM. Bequaert, Luja, etc. Revue Zoologique Africaine (Brussels). 2: 306-351.
• Forel A. 1916. Fourmis du Congo et d'autres provenances récoltées par MM. Hermann Kohl, Luja, Mayné, etc. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 24: 397-460.
• Hita Garcia F., E. Wiesel, G. Fischer. 2013. The ants of Kenya (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)—faunal overview, first species checklist, bibliography, accounts for all genera, and discussion on taxonomy and zoogeography. Journal of East African Natural History 101: 127-222.
• Hita Garcia, F., G. Fischer, M.K. Peters, R.R. Snelling and H.W. Wagele. 2009. A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Kakamega Forest (Kenya). Journal of East African Natural HIstory 98(2): 147-165.
• Ross S. R. P. J., F. Hita Garcia, G. Fischer, and M. K. Peters. 2018. Selective logging intensity in an East African rain forest predicts reductions in ant diversity. Biotropica 1-11.
• Santschi F. 1910. Formicides nouveaux ou peu connus du Congo français. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 78: 349-400.
• Stitz H. 1910. Westafrikanische Ameisen. I. Mitteilungen aus dem Zoologischen Museum in Berlin 5: 125-151.
• Stitz H. 1916. Formiciden. Ergebnisse der Zweiten Deutschen Zentral-Afrika Expedition 1: 369-405.
• Wheeler G. C. 1943. The larvae of the army ants. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 36: 319-332.
• Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. II. The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 39-269.
• Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VIII. A synonymic list of the ants of the Ethiopian region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 711-1004