Rogeria

Small earthen ants are yellowish brown (males and workers in some species are brownish-black). The body length of workers and males is about 3 mm, and females up to 5 mm. Workersmonomorphic . Posterior breast with acute propodeal spines. Antennae long, in females and workers 12-segmented, club 3-segmented (apical segment long, equal in length to the two previous segments of the club). The antennae of males consist of 13 segments (without mace). Zhval workers with 4-9 teeth. The mandibular palps are 3-segmented (or 2), the lower labial palps are composed of 3 segments (or 2, or 1). Antennal grooves absent. Clypeus is biciliform. The eyes are small, in them from 1 to 100 facets (usually less than 50), are located in the anterolateral part of the head. The head is wider at the back; occipital margins rounded. The chest is flat from above, without seams. Anteroventral margins of pronotum angular or with denticles. There is no methanotal groove. Shins of middle and hind legs without apical spurs. The stalk between the breast and the abdomen consists of two segments ( petiol + postpetiol). Petiol with developed stem and nodule. Pupa naked (without cocoon). The sting is developed ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

The biology of these rare and secretive ants remains little studied, there is only fragmentary information about the ecological characteristics of habitats. Collection records usually record ants' findings from sea level to 1000 m, but five species move even higher. An exception is only two species ( Rogeria unguispina and R. merenbergiana ), which can be found at an altitude of 2000 m (respectively, the first in the mountains of Venezuela , and the second in the mountains of Colombia and Ecuador ). Rogeria species usually live in moist tropical and equatorial forests (primary or secondary forests, coffee or cocoa plantations). But at higher detection points, they are also found in open biotopes, for example, on pastures ( R. leptonana , R. merenbergiana ). Several species ( R. creightoni , R. cuneola , R. foreli ) have wide ecological preferences and were found both in humid and dry climates. R. foreli is the most unusual representative of its kind, and some finds at heights of about 1800 m in the mountains of southern Arizona in the United States ^[2] .

Most Rogeria species were collected only as random finds of foraging worker ants, or by taking samples using various traps ( Berlese or Winkler traps ), usually in fallen leaves and rotten wood, but sometimes among epiphytes and mosses ( Rogeria belti , R. creightoni , R. exsulans ). Nests of several species ( R. belti , R. blanda , R. merenbergiana ) were found under the loose bark of rotten logs. Anthills Rogeria blanda and R. were found in the trunks of cocoa trees. The nest of R. leptonana was found at an altitude of 1750 m under a stone in a pasture ^[2] . Since nests are very rare, males are known only for four species ( R. belti , R. blanda , R. leptonana and R. stigmatica ), and females were found through nesting series for only nine species ^[2] .

Most species are found in the New World, in North , Central and South America , and only a few species ( R. exsulans , R. megastigmatica , R. stigmatica ) live on the islands of Oceania . To the north, the range of the genus extends to the United States ( R. foreli and R. creightoni were found there). The largest endemic fauna found in South America (19 species) ^{[1] [2] [3]} .

About 40 species. The genus was first isolated in 1894 by the Italian worldmecologist Carlo Emery on the basis of the type species Rogeria curvipubens Emery, 1894 ^[4] . The genus was named after the German poet and entomologist Julius Roger , known for his work on ants. The systematic position of Rogeria among other myrmycin was debated and repeatedly changed. In different years, individual authors included the genus in various tribes: Myrmicini, Leptothoracini, Pheidolini or Stenammini ^{[1] [2] [5]} . Since 2015, they have been included in the tribe Solenopsidini , where they are brought closer to the genera Dolopomyrmex and Bariamyrma ^[6] .

Comparison of three castes on the example of the neotropical species Rogeria innotabilis (side view and head in front)

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  Working

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  Female

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  Male

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  Working

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  Female

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  Male

• Bolton B. Identification guide to the ant genera of the world. - Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard University Press, 1994 .-- 222 p.
• Bolton B. A new general catalog of the ants of the world. - Cambridge, Mass .: Harvard University Press, 1995 .-- 504 p.
• Bolton B. Synopsis and classification of Formicidae. (English) // Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. - Gainesville, FL: American Entomological Institute, 2003. - Vol. 71. - P. 1-370. - ISBN 1-887988-15-7 .
• Kempf WW Additions to the Neotropical ant genus Rogeria Emery, with a key to the hitherto recorded South American species (Hym., Formicidae) (Eng.) // Revista Brasileira de Biologia. - 1963. - Vol. 23. - P. 189-196.
• LaPolla JS, Sosa-Calvo J. Review of the antogenus Rogeria (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Guyana (English) // Zootaxa . - 2006. - Vol. 1330. - P. 59-68. - DOI : 10.11646 / zootaxa.1330.1.5 .

• Key to Costa Rican Rogeria . Ants of Costa Rica (ants.biology.utah.edu). Date of treatment July 17, 2019.
• Genus Rogeria Emery, 1894 Antweb.org. Date of treatment July 17, 2019.
• Genus Rogeria . Bugguide.net. Date of treatment July 17, 2019.