Pseudomyrmex ferruginea

Pseudomyrmex ferruginea
Worker
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hymenoptera
Family:
Formicidae
Subfamily:
Pseudomyrmecinae
Genus:
Pseudomyrmex
Species:
P. ferruguinea
Binomial name
Pseudomyrmex ferruginea
F. Smith, 1877 [1]

The acacia ant (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea) is a species of ant of the genus Pseudomyrmex. These arboreal, wasp-like ants have an orange-brown body around 3 mm in length and very large eyes. The acacia ant is best known and named for living in symbiosis with the bullhorn acacia (Acacia cornigera) throughout Central America.[2]

The ant and the acacia exemplify a coevolution of a mutualistic system, as described by evolutionary ecologist Daniel Janzen.[3]

  1. ^ Renthal et al. 2008
  2. ^ Piper 2007, pp. 1–4
  3. ^ Janzen 1966