Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T03:47:06.435Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE NORTHWARD DISTRIBUTION OF ANTS IN NORTH AMERICA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

Robert E. Gregg
Robert E. Gregg
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A study of the ant populations was made through a transect of mid-continent North America from Churchill on Hudson Bay and various localities around the Great Lakes to Iowa and northern Illinois. Data were obtained from extensive personal collecting and from literature sources. The results were assembled and discussed within an ecological framework provided by Merriam’s life zones, and showed a regular diminution in the variety and wealth of the ant faunas progressing from south to north. Though the number of species at Churchill is extremely reduced, ants nevertheless do occur there as established reproducing colonies, even in the presumed tundra habitats. These forms which exist so far north represent a highly impoverished remnant of richer faunas further south. Although none of the species is peculiar to the area, each must be tolerant of high boreal environments. A total of 135 species and subspecies are listed for the Carolinian and Alleghenian zones combined, 43 taxa for the Canadian Zone, 4 taxa for the Hudsonian Zone, and 4 also for the Arctic Zone. Comparisons with the recorded ant faunas of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado were made with respect to the corresponding zones, namely, the Plains (Upper Sonoran), Foothills or Submontane (Transition), Montane (Canadian), Subalpine (Hudsonian), and Alpine (Arctic) zones, and appropriate similarities and differences noted.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 104 , Issue 7 , July 1972 , pp. 1073 - 1091
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Buren, W. F. 1944. A list of Iowa ants. Ia St. Coll. J. Sci. 18: 277–312.Google Scholar
Creighton, W. S. 1950. The ants of North America. Bull. Mus. comp. Zool. Harv. 104: 1–585.Google Scholar
Gregg, R. E. 1944. The ants of the Chicago Region. Ann. ent. Soc. Am. 37: 447–480.Google Scholar
Gregg, R. E. 1946. The ants of northeastern Minnesota. Am. Midl. Nat. 35: 747–755.Google Scholar
Gregg, R. E. 1963. The ants of Colorado with reference to their ecology, taxonomy, and geographic distribution. Univ. Colorado Press, Boulder. 792 pp.Google Scholar
Lindroth, C. H. 1957. The faunal connections between Europe and North America. Wiley. 344 pp.Google Scholar
Muesebeck, C. F. W. and Krombein, K. V. et al. 1951. Hymenoptera of America North of Mexico, Synoptic Catalogue. U.S. Dept. Agric. Mono. No. 2. (Formicidae: M. R. Smith, pp. 778–875; 1st Suppl., 1958, pp. 108–162; 2nd Suppl., 1967, pp. 343–374).Google Scholar
Munroe, E. G. 1956. Canada as an environment for insect life. Can. Ent. 88: 372–476.Google Scholar
Scoggan, H. J. 1959. Guide book to the native flora of Churchill, Manitoba, with notes on the history, geology, and climate of the area. Dep. Northern Affairs & National Resources, National Museum of Canada, Ottawa. 51 pp.Google Scholar
Shelford, V. E. and Twomey, A. C.. 1941. Tundra animal communities in the vicinity of Churchill, Manitoba. Ecology 22: 47–69.Google Scholar
Smith, M. R. 1957. Revision of the genus Stenamma Westwood in America north of Mexico. Am. Midl. Nat. 57: 133–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Talbot, M. 1934. Distribution of ant species in the Chicago Region with reference to ecological factors and physiological toleration. Ecology 15: 416–439.Google Scholar
Wheeler, G. C. and Wheeler, J.. 1963. The ants of North Dakota. Univ. North Dakota Press, Grand Forks. 326 pp.Google Scholar
Wing, M. W. 1968. Taxonomic revision of the nearctic genus Acanthomyops (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Cornell Univ. agric. Exp. Stn (Ithaca, N.Y.), Mem. NO. 405, 173 pp.Google Scholar