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Acropyga is a genus of small formicine ants. Some species can be indirect pests. A. acutiventris, which is found from India to Australia, tends subterranean, root-feeding mealybugs of the species Xenococcus annandalei. Living, gravid females are carried in the jaws of A. acutiventris queens during their nuptial flight, to establish the symbiotic association in founding colonies. Other Acropyga species have relationships with different species of mealybugs, and it could be a trait common to the whole genus.[1]
Description Acropyga are smaller than 3.5 mm, with a compact, stocky body. They have antennae with 10 or 11 segments (including the scape), short palps and reduced eyes with four to 30 individual ommatidia. In some species the eyes are completely absent.[2] Distribution Acropyga is found in the Americas, southern Africa, India to Southeast Asia and Australia. A. palearctica is known only from Greece. Fossil specimens of Acropyga have been recovered from the Burdigalian stage Dominican amber deposits and several individuals are preserved carrying Electromyrmococcus mealybugs.[3] These fossils represent the oldest recorded record of the symbiosis between mealybugs and Acropyga species ants.[3] Species - Acropyga acutiventris Roger, 1862
- Acropyga ambigua Emery, 1922
- Acropyga amblyops Forel, 1915
- Acropyga arnoldi Santschi, 1926
- Acropyga bakwele LaPolla & Fisher, 2005
- Acropyga baodaoensis Terayama, 1985
- Acropyga berwicki Wheeler, 1935
- Acropyga borgmeieri Donisthorpe, 1939
- Acropyga bruchi Santschi, 1929
- Acropyga butteli Forel, 1912
- Acropyga crassicornis Emery, 1900
- Acropyga decedens (Mayr, 1887)
- Acropyga distinguenda Karavaiev, 1935
- Acropyga dodo (Donisthorpe, 1946)
- Acropyga donisthorpei Weber, 1944
- Acropyga dubia Karavaiev, 1933
- Acropyga dubitata (Wheeler & Mann, 1914)
- Acropyga emeryi (Forel, 1915)
- Acropyga epedana Snelling, 1973
- Acropyga exsanguis (Wheeler, 1909)
- Acropyga fuhrmanni (Forel, 1914)
- Acropyga goeldii Forel, 1893
- Acropyga guianensis Weber, 1944
- Acropyga indistincta Crawley, 1923
- Acropyga indosinensis Wheeler, 1935
- Acropyga inezae Forel, 1912
- Acropyga jiangxiensis Wang & Wu, 1992
- Acropyga kathrynae Weber, 1944
- Acropyga lauta Mann, 1919
| - Acropyga major Donisthorpe, 1949
- Acropyga marshalli (Crawley, 1921)
- Acropyga meermohri (Staercke, 1930)
- Acropyga mesonotalis Weber, 1944
- Acropyga moluccana Mayr, 1879
- Acropyga myops Forel, 1910
- Acropyga nipponensis Terayama, 1985
- Acropyga oceanica Emery, 1900
- Acropyga oko Weber, 1944
- Acropyga pachycera (Emery, 1906)
- Acropyga paleartica Menozzi, 1936
- Acropyga pallida (Donisthorpe, 1938)
- Acropyga paludis Weber, 1944
- Acropyga panamensis Weber, 1944
- Acropyga paramaribensis Borgmeier, 1933
- Acropyga parvidens (Wheeler & Mann, 1914)
- Acropyga pickeli Borgmeier, 1927
- Acropyga quadriceps Weber, 1944
- Acropyga robae Donisthorpe, 1936
- Acropyga rutgersi Buenzli, 1935
- Acropyga sauteri Forel, 1912
- Acropyga silvestrii Emery, 1915
- Acropyga smithii Forel, 1893
- Acropyga termitobia Forel, 1912
- Acropyga trinitatis Weber, 1944
- Acropyga undecema (Donisthorpe, 1949)
- Acropyga urichi Weber, 1944
- Acropyga wheeleri Mann, 1922
| References - ITIS: Genus ''Acropyga''
- Australian Ants Online: Genus ''Acropyga''
- (1992): Nomenclature and distribution of some Australian and New Guinean Ants of the subfamily Formicinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Aust. ent. Soc. 31: 57-69. PDF
Further reading - (1935): Ants of the genus Acropyga Roger, with description of a new species. Journal of the New York Entomological Society 43: 321-329. PDF
- (2005)): A Remarkable New Species of Acropyga (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Gabon, with a Key to the Afrotropical Species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 56(30): 601-605. PDF
External links pl:Acropyga pt:Acropyga ru:Acropyga vi:Acropyga
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