Dorymyrmex smithi

Habitat: Sandy and other types of well-drained prairies. To the west, desert grassland and scrub. In Missouri, this ant is locally abundant in the sand prairie and savanna remnants of the southeastern Boot Heel region.

Natural History: More active and evidently diurnal than D. grandulus, D. smithi lives in larger colonies, often with multiple nests interconnected by active trails. These colonies may be formed by social parasitism, including colony founding by a queen D. smithi usurping the queen of a D. flavus colony, or by established colonies simply expanding into neighboring D. flavus nests, or indeed by colony fission. Foraging somewhat resembles that of the more populous Dolichoderus species.

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Dorymyrmex pyramicus var. smithi Cole, 1936b PDF: 120 (w.) U.S.A. Nearctic. AntCat AntWiki HOL

Taxonomic history

Combination in Conomyrma: Snelling, 1973b PDF: 4.Combination in Dorymyrmex: Snelling, 1995a PDF: 7.Junior synonym of Dorymyrmex pyramicus: Creighton, 1950a PDF: 349.Junior synonym of Dorymyrmex insanus: Snelling, 1973b PDF: 5.Revived from synonymy, raised to species and senior synonym of Dorymyrmex medeis: Snelling, 1995a PDF: 7.