Jason L. Williams

• Ph.D. Entomology and Nematology
• Postdoc at University of Florida

Globally, potentially hundreds of Nylanderia species remain undescribed, hidden within several broadly distributed complexes of morphologically cryptic species. By integrating phylogenomics, geography, and morphology, we describe eight new Nylanderia species from southern Mexico and Mesoamerica, increasing the total number of known species in the g...

Genital morphology, a cornerstone in taxonomy that predates Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae, is vital for species delimitation. However, the widely accepted paradigm that genitalia are taxonomically informative lacks robust testing between closely related species, and supporting evidence is often limited to taxonomic literature in which genitalia are as...

Genital morphology, a cornerstone in taxonomy that predates Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae, is vital for species delimitation. However, the widely accepted paradigm that genitalia are taxonomically informative lacks robust testing between closely related species, and supporting evidence is often limited to taxonomic literature in which genitalia are as...

Prenolepis rinpoche sp. nov. is described, imaged, and compared with similar speciesfrom South and Southeast Asia. This new species description raises the total number of extant Prenolepis species to 20. Distribution maps of all Asian Prenolepis species are included. Further justification for this new species description is provided using principal...

The ant genus Nylanderia Emery has a cosmopolitan distribution and includes 150 extant described species and subspecies, with potentially hundreds more undescribed. Global taxonomic revision has long been stalled by strong intra- and interspecific morphological variation, limited numbers of diagnostic characters, and dependence on infrequently coll...

This is an FC submission; below I have pasted the Introduction. The oriental rat flea, Xenopsylla cheopis (Rothschild, 1903), is a member of the family Pulicidae in the order Siphonaptera. Fleas are highly specialized insects that are demonstrably successful as ectoparasites of birds and mammals (Marquardt, et al. 2000). Of the nearly 2,500 species...

Diversity is a driving force of innovation and creativity in scientific research. Therefore, supporting and maintaining diversity is a priority within academic communities. Gender is an important but understudied aspect of diversity in most scientific fields, including entomology. Women remain underrepresented in paid academic positions, despite th...

Invasive species have devastating economic and ecological impacts worldwide, but proactive monitoring programs are rare on the global stage. By definition, tramp ants are associated with disturbance and human-mediated dispersal, making them especially concerning invasive threats. A proactive—rather than reactive—approach to monitoring for, preventi...

Nylanderia (Emery) is one of the world’s most diverse ant genera, with 123 described species worldwide and hundreds more undescribed. Fifteen globetrotting or invasive species have widespread distributions and are often encountered outside their native ranges. A molecular approach to understanding the evolutionary history and to revision of Nylande...

Targeted enrichment of ultraconserved elements (UCEs) has emerged as a promising tool for inferring evolutionary history in many taxa, with utility ranging from phylogenetic and biogeographic questions at deep time scales to population level studies at shallow time scales. However, the methodology can be daunting for beginners. Our goal is to intro...

Targeted enrichment of ultraconserved elements (UCE) has emerged as a promising tool for inferring evolutionary history in many taxa, with utility ranging from phylogenetic and phylogeographic questions at deep time scales to population level studies at shallow time scales. However, the methodology can be daunting for beginners. Our goal is to intr...

Prenolepis is a lineage of formicine ants with its center of diversity in the Old World tropics. Three more Prenolepis species are added to the Indomalayan and Australasian fauna and another is synonymized, bringing the total number of Prenolepis species worldwide to 19. Two new species are described: P. nepalensis from Nepal and P. lakekamu from P...

Originally published on the Featured Creatured website at http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/ants/robust_crazy_ant.htm Includes: Introduction - Taxonomy - Synonymy - Distribution - Description - Biology - Life Cycle - Economic Importance - Selected References.

This EDIS publication is an alternate version of a page published first on the Featured Creatures website. The Featured Creatures collection provides in-depth profiles of insects, nematodes, arachnids and other organisms relevant to Florida. These profiles are intended for the use of interested laypersons with some knowledge of biology as well as a...

A new species of Acropyga (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) is described from Panama. The largest known Acropyga species in the New World, Acropyga oreithauma, new species is described and images are provided. Based on its morphology, A. oreithauma is likely closely related to A. exanguis and A. fuhrmanni. These three Acropyga are also known to...

The formicine ant genus Prenolepis is here revised for the first time. Thirteen extant species are recognized of which four are described as new. A key for the worker caste is provided, and the worker of each species is imaged, with males and queens imaged in species where they are known. Worker-based characters were used to construct a species-lev...

FIGURE 139. Range map of P. imparis inferred from hundreds of specimens observed from across North America.

FIGURE 58. Maximum parsimony strict consensus tree. Bootstrap proportions from 1000 replicates are presented along the branches.

FIGURE 142. Point-based map of Prenolepis species found mostly in maritime Southeast Asia.

FIGURE 1. Venn diagram of Asian Prenolepis species found in various biogeographical regions.

FIGURES 69 – 71. Prenolepis fustinoda holotype worker CASENT 0129291. Lateral, full-face, and dorsal view of the body.

FIGURES 83 – 85. Prenolepis jacobsoni neotype worker USNMENT 0075510; lateral, full-face and dorsal view of the body.

FIGURES 107 – 114. Prenolepis nitens reproductives. 107, queen in frontal view; 108, queen in lateral view; 109, male in frontal view; 110, male in lateral view; 111 – 114, male genitalia (dorsal, dorsal close-up of digitus and cuspus, ventral, and lateral parameres).

FIGURES 118 – 120. Prenolepis subopaca worker USNMENT 00755090. Lateral, full-face, and dorsal view of the body.

FIGURES 15 – 27. Illustrations of mesosoma shapes (profile view) observed in all Prenolepis species. 15, P. angularis; 16, P. darlena; 17, P. fisheri; 18, P. fustinoda; 19, P. imparis; 20, P. jacobsoni; 21, P. jerdoni; 22, P. mediops; 23, P. melanogaster; 24, P. naoroji; 25, P. nitens; 26, P. shanialena; 27, P. subopaca.

FIGURES 63 – 65. Prenolepis darlena holotype worker USNMENT 00755129. Lateral, full-face, and dorsal view of the body.

FIGURES 121 – 123. Nylanderia acuminata worker USNMENT 00755089. Lateral, full-face, and dorsal view of the body.