GISD

Monomorium floricola

System : Terrestrial

Kingdom

Phylum

Class

Order

Family

Animalia

Arthropoda

Insecta

Hymenoptera

Formicidae

Full account (PDF)

General
Distribution
Impact
Management
Bibliography
Contact

Common name

floral ant (English), futairo-hime-ari (English), bicoloured trailing ant (English), flower ant (English), brownish-red flower ant (English), Braunrote Blutenameise (German)

Synonym

Monomorium angusticlava , Donisthorpe, 1947
Monomorium cinnabari , Roger, 1863
Monomorium floreanum , Stitz, 1932
Monomorium impressum ,Smith, 1876
Monomorium poecilum , Roger, 1863
Monomorium specularis , Mayr, 1866

Similar species

Summary

The primarily arboreal flower ant (Monomorium floricola) is one of the world's most broadly distributed tramp ants. Most occurrence records of M. floricola are in tropical and sub-tropical regions from latitudes above 30 degrees; populations in latitudes above 35 degrees are found in heated buildings or inside greenhouses. M. floricola has been identified as a significant arboreal predator of insect eggs; in Guam it is recognised as one of three most important ant species attacking eggs of native butterflies resulting in their reduced populations.

view this species on IUCN Red List

Species Description

Monomorium floricola are small and slender and can be distinguished by their distinctive bicoloured body; a pale body with a darker brown head and gaster (Wetterer 2010)

Please click on AntWeb: Monomorium floricola for images and assistance with identification. The AntWeb image comparison tool lets you compare images of ants at the subfamily, genus, species or specimen level. You may also specify which types of images you would like to compare: head, profile, dorsal, or label.

Please follow this link for a fully illustrated Lucid key to common invasive ants [Hymenoptera: Formicidae] of the Pacific Island region [requires the most recent version of Java installed]. The factsheet on Monorium floricola contains an overview, diagnostic features, comparision charts, images, nomenclature and links. (Sarnat, 2008)

Notes

Three subspecies that are direct children to Monomorium floricola are Monomorium floricola floricola (Jerdon, 1851); Monomorium floricola furinum Forel, 1911; Monomorium floricola philippinense Forel, 1910

Habitat Description

Monomorium floricola is primarily arboreal forming large colonies in bushes and trees in habitats that are disturbed to varying degrees. They are a common urban species in most tropical countries (Wilson & Taylor 1967 in Wetterer 2010)

Principal source: Wetterer, James K., 2010. Worldwide spread of the flower ant, Monomorium floricola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Myrmecological News. 13 APR 2010. 19-27.

Compiler: IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group with support from the Overseas Territories Environmental Programme (OTEP) project XOT603, a joint project with the Cayman Islands Government - Department of Environment

Review:

Publication date: 2010-10-01

Recommended citation: Global Invasive Species Database (2024) Species profile: Monomorium floricola. Downloaded from http://iucngisd.org/gisd/speciesname/Monomorium+floricola on 02-11-2024.

General Impacts

Monomorium floricola, Solenopsis geminata and Tapinoma minutum are listed as significant native butterfly egg predators causing reduction in population numbers of native butterflies (Nafus 1993). In the Phillippines M. floricola is recognised as a serious pest of silkworms (Banks 1911 in Wetterer, 2010); of coconut pests (Way et al 1989). M. floricola has also been observed as a dominant species sometimes in flooded mangrove habitats where there is less competition with non-arboreal species (Wetterer 2010).

M. floricola is a common but minor agricultural and indoor pest in urban areas.

Management Info

The Pacific Ant Prevention Programme is a proposal prepared for the Pacific Plant Protection Organisation and Regional Technical Meeting For Plant Protection. This plan aims to prevent the red imported fire ant and other invasive ant species with economic, environmental and/or social impacts, entering and establishing in or spreading between (or within) countries of the Pacific Region.

Identification:

Locations

Countries (or multi-country features) with distribution records for Monomorium floricola

ALIEN RANGE

[1] angola
[1] anguilla
[2] antigua and barbuda
[1] aruba
[2] australia
[1] bahamas
[1] barbados
[1] belize
[1] bermuda
[1] bes islands (bonaire, sint eustatius and saba)
[1] bolivia
[1] brazil
[1] british indian ocean territory
[1] cameroon
[1] canada
[1] cape verde
[1] cayman islands
[1] chile
[2] china
[1] christmas island
[1] colombia
[1] congo
[1] cook islands
[1] costa rica
[1] cuba
[1] curacao
[1] dominica
[1] dominican republic
[1] ecuador
[1] el salvador
[1] equatorial guinea
[1] fiji
[1] french guiana
[5] french polynesia
[1] germany
[1] ghana
[1] grenada
[1] guadeloupe
[1] guam
[1] guatemala
[1] guyana
[1] haiti
[1] honduras
[1] hong kong
[1] jamaica
[1] japan
[3] kiribati
[1] korea, democratic people's republic of
[1] korea, republic of
[1] lao people's democratic republic
[1] madagascar
[1] marshall islands
[1] martinique
[2] mauritius
[1] mexico
[1] micronesia, federated states of
[1] montserrat
[1] netherlands
[1] new caledonia
[2] new zealand
[1] nicaragua
[1] nigeria
[1] niue
[1] northern mariana islands
[1] palau
[1] panama
[1] paraguay
[1] pitcairn
[1] puerto rico
[1] reunion
[2] saint kitts and nevis
[1] saint lucia
[1] saint martin (french part)
[1] saint vincent and the grenadines
[1] samoa
[1] seychelles
[1] solomon islands
[1] suriname
[1] sweden
[1] switzerland
[1] taiwan
[1] tanzania, united republic of
[1] togo
[1] tokelau
[1] tonga
[1] trinidad and tobago
[2] united kingdom
[6] united states
[1] united states minor outlying islands
[1] vanuatu
[1] venezuela
[1] virgin islands, british
[1] virgin islands, u.s.
[1] wallis and futuna

NATIVE RANGE

brunei darussalam
india
indonesia
malaysia
myanmar
papua new guinea
philippines
singapore
sri lanka
thailand
viet nam

Bibliography

15 references found for Monomorium floricola

Management information

IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG)., 2010. A Compilation of Information Sources for Conservation Managers.
Summary: This compilation of information sources can be sorted on keywords for example: Baits & Lures, Non Target Species, Eradication, Monitoring, Risk Assessment, Weeds, Herbicides etc. This compilation is at present in Excel format, this will be web-enabled as a searchable database shortly. This version of the database has been developed by the IUCN SSC ISSG as part of an Overseas Territories Environmental Programme funded project XOT603 in partnership with the Cayman Islands Government - Department of Environment. The compilation is a work under progress, the ISSG will manage, maintain and enhance the database with current and newly published information, reports, journal articles etc.

Pacific Ant Prevention Programme, March 2004. Pacific Invasive Ant Group (PIAG) on behalf of the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG).
Summary: A proposal prepared for the Pacific Plant Protection Organisation and Regional Technical Meeting For Plant Protection. This plan aims to prevent the red imported fire ant and other invasive ant species with economic, environmental and/or social impacts, entering and establishing in or spreading between (or within) countries of the Pacific Region.

Sarnat, E. M. (December 4, 2008) PIAkey: Identification guide to ants of the Pacific Islands, Edition 2.0, Lucid v. 3.4. USDA/APHIS/PPQ Center for Plant Health Science and Technology and University of California � Davis.
Summary: PIAkey (Pacific Invasive Ant key) is an electronic guide designed to assist users identify invasive ant species commonly encountered in the Pacific Island region. The guide covers four subfamilies, 20 genera and 44 species.
The primary tool offered by PIAkey is an interactive key designed using Lucid3 software. In addition to being fully illustrated, the Lucid key allows users to enter at multiple character points, skip unknown characters, and find the most efficient path for identifying the available taxa. Each species is linked to its own web page. These species pages, or factsheets, are linked to an illustrated glossary of morphological terms, and include the following seven sections: 1) Overview of the species; 2) Diagnostic chart illustrating a unique combination of identification characters; 3) Comparison chart illustrating differences among species of similar appearance; 4) Video clip of the species behavior at food baits (where available); 5) Image gallery that includes original specimen images and live images (where available); 6) Nomenclature section detailing the taxonomic history of the species, and 7) Links and references section for additional literature and online resources.
Available from: http://www.lucidcentral.org/keys/v3/PIAkey/index.html [Accessed 17 December 2008]

General information

Antweb, 2010. Monomorium floricola
Summary: AntWeb illustrates ant diversity by providing information and high quality color images of many of the approximately 10,000 known species of ants. AntWeb currently focusses on the species of the Nearctic and Malagasy biogeographic regions, and the ant genera of the world. Over time, the site is expected to grow to describe every species of ant known. AntWeb provides the following tools: Search tools, Regional Lists, In-depth information, Ant Image comparision tool PDF field guides maps on AntWeb and Google Earth and Ant genera of the world slide show.
AntWeb is available from: http://antweb.org/about.jsp [Accessed 24 September 2010]
The species page is available from: http://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=floricola&genus=monomorium&rank=species&project=hawaiiants [Accessed 24 September 2010]

Fowler, Harold Gordon; Delabie, Jacques Herbert Charles; de Oliveira, Helder Gomes; Forti, Luiz Carlos, 2002. Exotic and native tramp ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Bahian cocoa farms. Cientifica (Jaboticabal). 30(1-2). 2002. 25-37.

Harris, R.; Abbott, K.; Barton, K.; Berry, J.; Don, W.; Gunawardana, D.; Lester, P.; Rees, J.; Stanley, M.; Sutherland, A.; Toft, R. 2005: Information sheet: Monomorium floricola (Jerdon). Invasive ant pest risk assessment project for Biosecurity New Zealand. Series of unpublished Landcare Research contract reports to Biosecurity New Zealand. BAH/35/2004-1.
Summary: Available from: http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/research/biocons/invertebrates/Ants/invasive_ants/monflo_info.asp [Accessed 26 July 2010]

Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), 2010. Monomorium floricola (Jerdon, 1851)
Summary: Available from: http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=580115 [Accessed 26 July 2010]

Lester, Philip J., 2005. Determinants for the successful establishment of exotic ants in New Zealand. Diversity and Distributions, (Diversity Distrib.) (2005) 11, 279�288

MacGown, J. A. and J. G. Hill, 2010. Two New Exotic Pest Ants, Pseudomyrmex gracilis and Monomorium floricola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Collected in Mississippi
Summary: Available from: http://midsouthentomologist.org.msstate.edu/pdfs/Vol3_2/Vol3_2_007.pdf [Accessed 26 July 2010]

Nafus, D.M. 1993. Movement of introduced biological control agents onto nontarget butterflies, Hypolimnas spp. (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae). Environmental Entomology, 22 (2): 265�272

Nishida, Gordon M. and Neal L. Evenhuis, 2000. Arthropod pests of conservation significance in the Pacific: A preliminary assessment of selected groups. Hawaii Biological Survey Contribution No. 1999- 012 Pacific Biological Survey Contribution No. 2000-006

Sarnat E.M. and E. P. Economo, 2011. Fiji Ants. The online home of Fiji s Myrmecofauna.
Summary: Available from: http://www.fijiants.org/ [Accessed 7 February 2011]

Solis, Daniel Russ; Paterson Fox, Eduardo Goncalves; Kato, Luciane Mayumi; de Jesus, Carlos Massuretti; Yabuki, Antonio Teruyoshi; de Carvalho Campos, Ana Eugenia; Bueno, Odair Correa, 2010. Morphological description of the immatures of the ant, Monomorium floricola. Journal of Insect Science (Tucson). 10 MAR 13 2010. Article No.: 15

Way, M.J.; Cammell, M.E.; Bolton, B.; Kanagaratnam, P. 1989: Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) as egg predators of coconut pests, especially in relation to biological control of the coconut caterpillar, Opisina arenosella Walker (Lepidoptera: Xyloryctidae), in Sri Lanka. Bulletin of Entomological Research 79: 219�233.

Wetterer, James K., 2010. Worldwide spread of the flower ant, Monomorium floricola (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Myrmecological News. 13 APR 2010. 19-27.
Summary: Available from: http://www.myrmecologicalnews.org/cms/images/pdf/volume13/mn13_19-27_non-printable.pdf [Accessed 26 July 2010]