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Dacetine Ants

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Encyclopedia of Social Insects

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Taxonomy and Distribution

The dacetine ants are a group of genera within the subfamily Myrmicinae. The classification of the group has a long, somewhat contradictory history since the tribe Dacetini was first recognized [1, 2]. A recent molecular phylogenetic analysis concludes that it is not monophyletic and places it within the tribe Attini [13]. In that revision, the “dacetine ants” split into two rather distant genus groups, one represented by Strumigenys and the other by Daceton and all other genera from the old Dacetini. These latter are Acanthognathus, Epopostruma, Mesostruma, Microdaceton, and Orectognathus. Strumigenys are distributed worldwide, while Daceton is a Neotropical genus, and other genera are each restricted to either Africa, the Neotropics, or Australia and Melanesia [2].

Predatory Behavior

After many of the previous “dacetine” genera were synonymized with Strumigenys, this genus came to include more than 800 described species [3]. These are extremely diverse in...

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Laboratory, Senshu University, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

    Keiichi Masuko

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  1. Keiichi Masuko
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Correspondence to Keiichi Masuko .

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  1. University of the West Indies, Department of Life Sciences University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago

    Christopher Starr

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Masuko, K. (2019). Dacetine Ants. In: Starr, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_34-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_34-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90306-4

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