Document Type
Scientific Note
Abstract
The pavement ant, Tetramorium immigrans, is an abundant and widespread species across large portions of the United States. Yet despite its current distribution in Northeastern, Midwestern, Pacific, and Western states, there is a surprising lack of records from the Great Plains. Here we present an updated county list of T. immigrans from museum collections and research grade observations (459 counties; ~15% of US counties), highlighting the first records from one Great Plains state—South Dakota. Observations on community science platforms since 2006 have undoubtedly increased the awareness of T. immigrans (+329 counties; ~72% of all county records), however we posit that such platforms may also highlight the dispersal limitations of this species into the less urban, colder Northern Great Plains states of Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming (~5% of 291 counties). As such, we offer novel information on T. immigrans’ thermal biology including measurements of critical thermal limits, knock-down resistance, and chill coma recovery. While T. immigrans can likely tolerate the warm summer temperatures found in South Dakota due to its heat tolerance hovering around 46°C, its lower ability to tolerate cold winter conditions may be a possible mechanism for its limited dispersal.
Recommended Citation
Roeder, Karl A.; Drey, Skylar; Daniels, Jesse D.; Roeder, Diane V.; and Helms, Jackson A. IV
2023.
"New record of the pavement ant, Tetramorium immigrans (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in South Dakota with notes on its thermal tolerance and geographic distribution,"
The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 56
(2)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2462
Available at:
https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol56/iss2/10