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Ants of Zihuatanejo

FAMILY FORMICIDAE

Flower Ants
Monomorium floricola

-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

-Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

-Insects (Class Insecta)

-Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

-Ants, Bees, Wasps, and Sawflies (Order Hymenoptera)

-Narrow-waisted Wasps, Ants, and Bees (Suborder Apocrita)

-Ants, Bees, and Stinging Wasps (Infraorder Aculeata)

-Superfamily Formicoidea

-Ants (Family Formicidae)

-Myrmicine Ants (Subfamily Myrmicinae)

-Tribe Solenopsidini

-Trailing, Pharaoh, and Timid Ants (Genus Monomorium)

-Flower Ant (Monomorium floricola)


Workers are tiny—typically about 1.5–2 mm long—with a distinctly bicolored appearance: the head and gaster (rear segment) are dark brown to black, while the thorax and legs are pale yellow to light brown. Flower ants thrive in warm, humid environments and are especially common in urban and suburban settings. They nest in a wide variety of sites, including soil, leaf litter, plant pots, wall voids, under bark, and inside buildings. Dietarily, Monomorium floricola is omnivorous, feeding on sugary substances such as nectar and honeydew from sap-sucking insects, as well as small arthropods.



Diet

  • Omnivorous, feeding primarily on nectar, honeydew from aphids, mealybugs, and scale insects, as well as plant sap, dead insects, small arthropods, and household food scraps.

  • Workers readily forage on sugary substances but also collect protein from insects to feed developing larvae.

  • Frequently tends sap-feeding insects for their honeydew.

Range

  • Believed to have originated in the Old World tropics, Monomorium floricola is now pantropical, having spread through human commerce.

  • Found throughout Mexico, including the Pacific coast of Guerrero and the Zihuatanejo region, particularly in disturbed habitats and around human settlements.

  • Established across much of Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, Australia, and many Pacific islands.

Habitat

  • Occupies tropical dry forests, tropical rainforests, gardens, orchards, plantations, parks, greenhouses, and urban areas.

  • Nests in soil, leaf litter, beneath stones, dead wood, tree cavities, potted plants, wall voids, and buildings.

  • Often forms polygynous (multiple-queen) colonies that can spread rapidly through budding.

Size

  • Worker length: 1.5–2.0 mm (0.06–0.08 in)

  • Queen length: 3–4 mm (0.12–0.16 in)

  • Colonies typically contain thousands of workers and multiple queens.

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