[Taxacom] Tiger ant, Bahia, Brazil

[Doug Yanega]

I've given Alex an ID: it is a female in the genus Traumatomutilla. A 
genus with many undescribed species, and those that are described are 
poorly-diagnosed, and thus it is hard to give names to species. There 
is a lot of variation, and no way to know how much is inter- versus 
intra-specific. The matter is complicated by the inclusion of 
numerous species which belong in other known genera (i.e., 
Traumatomutilla as it presently stands is polyphyletic). The state of 
mutillid taxonomy almost makes me weep, but fortunately there are a 
few hardy souls undertaking the work now of hammering out some of the 
work, GREATLY facilitated by molecular analysis. When there are zero 
morphological characters shared between sexes, as in mutillids, 
that's when molecular work really proves its merits as a taxonomic 
tool: reliable association of sexes is otherwise almost impossible.

Peace,
-- 

Doug Yanega        Dept. of Entomology         Entomology Research Museum
Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314        skype: dyanega
phone: (951) 827-4315 (standard disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)
              http://cache.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html
   "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness
         is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82