John S. LaPolla
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Nylanderia of the World, Part IV: Taxonomic contributions to the American Clade I of New World Nylanderia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Open
Globally, potentially hundreds of Nylanderia species remain undescribed, hidden within several broadly distributed complexes of morphologically cryptic species. By integrating phylogenomics, geography, and morphology, we describe eight new…
New species of Coccidella Hambleton and Rhizoecus Kunckel d’Herculais from South America (Hemiptera: Rhizoecidae) Open
Two new species of root mealybugs (Hemiptera: Rhizoecidae) from South America are described and illustrated based on the morphology of the adult females: Coccidella advena Schneider & LaPolla, sp. nov. from Peru and Rhizoecus peripotaro Sc…
“Picking up signals” in male genital morphospace and integrating phylogenomics to delimit Neotropical <i>Nylanderia</i> Emery species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Open
Genital morphology, a cornerstone in taxonomy that predates Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae, is vital for species delimitation. However, the widely accepted paradigm that genitalia are taxonomically informative lacks robust testing between clos…
Scale insect (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) morphology is transformed under trophobiosis Open
Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) have great potential to exert influence over the morphological evolution of their obligate mutualist partners. Obligately myrmecophilic mealybugs are noted for their unusual morphology, and while this is ofte…
Trophobiosis between a new species of Acropyga (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) and new Neochavesia (Hemiptera, Xenococcidae) from Peru, and establishment of the Acropyga smithii species-group Open
We describe a new pair of trophobiotic partners from the ant genus Acropyga and the root mealybug genus Neochavesia . A recent field study on Acropyga ants and associated root mealybugs, conducted in the Peruvian Amazon, led to the discove…
A Neotropical complex of Ripersiella species (Hemiptera, Coccomorpha, Rhizoecidae) collected from the nests of Acropyga ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
We describe five new Neotropical species of Ripersiella living in association with Acropyga ants: R. campensis sp. nov. , R. illicians sp. nov. , R. montanae sp. nov. , R. pediandensis sp. nov. , and R. telalia sp. nov. We also redescribe …
Phylogenomic Delimitation of Morphologically Cryptic Species in Globetrotting <i>Nylanderia</i> (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Species Complexes Open
The ant genus Nylanderia Emery has a cosmopolitan distribution and includes 150 extant described species and subspecies, with potentially hundreds more undescribed. Global taxonomic revision has long been stalled by strong intra- and inter…
Trophobiosis between a new species of Williamsrhizoecus (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha: Rhizoecidae) and Acropyga silvestrii (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Tanzania Open
A new myrmecophilous species of root mealybug, Williamsrhizoecus udzungwensis sp. n., is described from individuals found living within a nest of Acropyga silvestrii in the Udzungwa Mountains of Tanzania. Acropyga ants are highly specializ…
Nylanderia of the World Part III: Nylanderia in the West Indies Open
The diversity of the formicine ant genus Nylanderia is currently underestimated and largely undescribed. This includes the faunas of tropical regions where species richness is typically high. Here, the taxonomy of the West Indian Nylanderi…
Two new Prenolepis species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Indomalaya and Australasia, with a redescription of P. dugasi from Vietnam Open
This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Williams, Jason L., Lapolla, John S. (2018): Two new Prenolepis species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Indomalaya and Australasia, with a redescr…
A new aneuretine ant from the Paleocene Paskapoo Formation of Canada Open
Lapolla, John S., Barden, Phillip (2018): A new aneuretine ant from the Paleocene Paskapoo Formation of Canada. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 63 (3): 435-440, DOI: 10.4202/app.00478.2018, URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.4202/app.00478.2018
Taxonomic revision and phylogeny of the ant genus Prenolepis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Open
The formicine ant genus Prenolepis is here revised for the first time. Thirteen extant species are recognized of which four are described as new. A key for the worker caste is provided, and the worker of each species is imaged, with males …
Nylanderia deceptrix sp. n., a new species of obligately socially parasitic formicine ant (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Open
Obligately socially parasitic ants are social parasites that typically lack the sterile worker caste, and depend on the host species for survival and brood care. The genus Nylanderia has over 130 described species and subspecies, none of w…