Activity Patterns of a Harvester Ant in an Inter-tropical Semiarid Zone in Central Mexico

Abstract

Red harvester ant (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) inhabits deserts of USA and Mexico. Its activity patterns are well known in temperate deserts, but they have not been studied in tropical ones. We studied these patterns in the Tehucan Valley, a tropical desert in central Mexico. It had bimodal activity patterns in spring, summer, and fall while unimodal patterns in winter. These patterns differ from those reported for this species in temperate deserts where activity stopped in winter. Our results suggest that P. barbatus extends its activity periods and remains active all year round in the Tehuacan Valley.

Keywords

• activity, Pogonomyrmex, soil temperature
• semiarid zones