myrmicine

English

Myrmica rubra, a myrmicine

Etymology

From Myrmicinae, influenced by -ine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɜː(ɹ)mɪsaɪn/

Adjective

myrmicine (not comparable)

1. (zoology) Of or pertaining to the ant subfamily Myrmicinae.
   • 1990, Bert Hölldobler, Edward O. Wilson, The Ants, page 274:

     The discovery of tandem calling with pheromones in Leptothorax throws considerable light on the evolution of chemical recruitment techniques in myrmicine ants generally.

   • 2012, Murry Blum, Chemical Defenses of Arthropods, page 329:

     The chemistry of the myrmicine genus Solenopsis is so aberrant that it reduces generalizations about ant venoms to the absurd.

2. (zoology) Of or pertaining to the ant genus Myrmica.

Noun

myrmicine (plural myrmicines)

1. (zoology) Any ant of the subfamily Myrmicinae.
   • 1999, Steven O. Shattuck, Australian Ants: Their Biology and Identification, volume 3, page 122:

     Subfamily Myrmicinae
     […] Species of myrmicines are most likely to be confused with species of Leptanilla or Tetraponera because of the two-segmented petiole.

   • 2007, Victor Rico-Gray, Paulo S. Oliveira, The Ecology and Evolution of Ant-Plant Interactions, page 12:

     The other dominant ant subfamilies were also present but with lesser importance (fig. 1.4). Toward the end of the ponerine expansion (Early Eocene), the myrmicines began to radiate, surpassing the ponerines in biomass and diversity.

   • 2016, Brian L. Fisher, Barry Bolton, Ants of Africa and Madagascar: A Guide to the Genera, page 56:

     The pseudomyrmecines can only be mistaken for myrmicines, but in the former there is always a fully developed promesonotal suture that is fully articulated and flexible in fresh specimens—a character that is always absent from myrmicines.

References

• “myrmicine”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.