Taxonomic & Geographic Scope

The taxonomic scope of PIAkey is limited to the most commonly encountered invasive ant species in the Pacific Islands. Although many of the islands of Polynesia have a limited native ant fauna, the larger Melanesian islands can support hundreds of native ant species. The primary concern for any user of PIAkey is that the specimen under investigation belongs to the native ant fauna of the region from where it was collected. If that is the case, the results of the interactive key or factsheet browsing cannot be depended upon to produce an accurate identification.

The geographic scope of PIAkey is designed to cover the Pacific Island region, including Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia and the tropical and subtropical regions of Australia and New Zealand. However, many of the species included in PIAkey occur in tropical and subtropical regions across the globe. If PIAkey is used to diagnosis specimens collected from regions other than the greater Pacific Island area, it should be done so with caution.