Pogonomyrmex is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of harvester ant

Ant

Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than...

s, occurring primarily in the deserts of North

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The genus name originated from the Greek language

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 and refers to a beard-like structure, the psammophore, below the head (Greek πώγων/pōgōn, "beard" + μύρμηξ/murmēx, "ant"), which can be found in most species of the subgenus

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...

 sensu stricto. The psammophore are used for gathering small seeds, helping to increase the efficiency of transportation of fine sand and pebbles during nest construction, or to carry eggs. However, this structure is missing in species of the subgenus Ephebomyrmex (Greek ἔφηβος/ephēbos, "beardless lad"): these species generally have smaller individuals and colonies.

Pogonomyrmex (sensu stricto) workers have the most toxic venom documented in any insects, with Pogonomyrmex maricopa

Pogonomyrmex maricopa

The Maricopa harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex maricopa, is one of the most common species of harvester ant species found in Arizona, USA. Its venom is believed to be the most toxic insect venom in the world....

being the most toxic tested thus far. It has an of only 0.12 mg/kg, compared to Western honey bee venom, at 2.8 mg/kg, and comparable to cobra

Cobra

Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...

 venom (there are, in fact, only about a dozen recorded LD50 values for snakes which are lower than 0.12, mostly seasnakes). This venom is presumed to be an anti-vertebrate defense, specifically against predators that have evolved to selectively feed on them, most notably horned lizard

Horned lizard

Horned lizards are a genus of lizards which are the type genus of the family Phrynosomatidae. The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad", "horny toad", or "horned frog", but it is neither a toad nor a frog. The popular names come from the lizard's rounded body and blunt snout, which...

s. Note that very few insects have had the toxicity of their venoms formally tested, and it is likely that other insects have more potent venoms (e.g., the venom of Lonomia

Lonomia

The genus Lonomia is a moderate-sized group of fairly cryptic saturniid moths from South America, famous not for the adults, but for their highly venomous caterpillars, which are responsible for a few deaths each year , especially in southern Brazil, and the subject of hundreds of published medical...

, which can kill humans).

These ants dig very deep nests with many underground chambers in which they keep seeds, from which they derive food for their larvae. The areas around most Pogonomyrmex (sensu stricto) nests tend to be utterly devoid of vegetation, and are easily seen from a distance. In addition to horned lizards, there are predatory wasps in the genus Clypeadon which feed only on Pogonomyrmex workers, paralyzing them with their venom, and then carrying them back to a burrow where they will serve as food for the wasp's larva.

Species

• P. abdominalis Santschi, 1929
• P. anergismus
  Pogonomyrmex anergismus
  Pogonomyrmex anergismus is a species of ant in the family Formicidae. It is endemic to the United States.-Source:* Social Insects Specialist Group 1996. . Downloaded on 10 August 2007....
  
  Cole, 1954
• P. angustus Mayr, 1870
• P. anzensis Cole, 1968
• P. apache Wheeler, 1902
• P. atratus Santschi, 1922

External links

• myrmecos.net: Photographs of many Pogonomyrmex species
• Harvester Ants (Pogonomyrmex spp.) — Urban Integrated Pest Management
• Pogonomyrmex badius, Florida harvester ant on the UF
  University of Florida
  The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
  
   / IFAS
  Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
  The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information...
  
  Featured Creatures Web site
• AntWeb