D3214: A taxonomic revision of Central American Nylanderia based on diagnostic morphological measurements evenly putative new species

Nylanderia is a globally distributed and highly diverse genus of ants, with over 123 described species and many undescribed species as well. In this study, we contributed to a taxonomic revision of the genus by analyzing the morphological data of 52 Nylanderia specimens collected from across the neotropics. By utilizing a program called ImageJ, we took a variety of measurements from these ants including their head width, scape length, and petiole height, and aggregated them into an Excel file where we could calculate and compare their morphometric indices. After comparing our data with the data of other research teams, we were able to form 7 distinct morphospecies, two of which were identified as N. austroccidua and N. guatemalensis. Future work in this matter will focus on identifying the remaining morphospecies and formally describing any new species. One morphospecies that may represent a new, undescribed species is found across Mesoamerica. It has a noticeable emargination at the top of its oval head and many macrosetae on its scape, head, legs, and thorax. With at least 15 species known to have caused economic and ecological damage in their spread across the globe, knowing more about Nylanderia species boundaries and distributions may provide us invaluable insight that can be used to better monitor and control their continued expansion.