About ant key | Antkey

Taxonomic scope: The taxonomic scope of the Lucid key includes ants from across the globe that are considered invasive, introduced, or commonly intercepted. The current version of the key treats the worker castes of approximately 115 species, 42 genera and 8 subfamilies. The inclusion of species is based on literature records, specimen records, and reported observations. Pest ants that have not established populations outside of their native ranges are not currently included in the species key. As noted above, native ants are not included in the key. Two exceptions to this is are Nylanderia terricola, which has a worker caste nearly indistinguishable from the introduced Nylanderia vividula, and Solenopsis xyloni which is similar enough to highly invasive Solenopsis species as to warrant its inclusion.

Geographic scope: The geographic scope of the Lucid key is currently limited to the introduced and commonly intercepted ants of the United States, including Hawaii. The effective geographic coverage of the key is actually much greater, however. Most of the species introduced to the United States have also established elsewhere in the world. For example, the key covers all the ant species introduced to North America and most Pacific Islands. There is also a strong overlap with the Neotropics, Europe and Australia. The key is likely to be more limited if used in the Old World tropics (including Asia, Africa and the Malagasy region) and New Zealand. The former regions are likely to harbor species that have been introduced from elsewhere in the Old World tropics, but that have not established in the New World. New Zealand harbors many species that have been introduced from Australia, but have not established elsewhere in the Pacific or the New World.