Meeting Abstract

45-7   15:00 - 15:15  A simplified classification system to describe cuticle sculpturing within Formicidae Hellenbrand, JP*; Penick, CA; Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw; Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw jhellenb@students.kennesaw.edu

Insects compose half of all biodiversity and rank among the most dominant organisms in terrestrial ecosystems. A key factor for the ecological success of insects is their exoskeleton, also known as cuticle. A great deal of research has focused on the chemical composition and microscopic structure of cuticle, but the outside of many insects is also adorned with complex textures and micro sculpturing patterns that can be quite striking. While taxonomist often use these micro sculpturing patterns to tell one species from another, little is known about the function of these patterns. Across insect taxa, cuticle sculpturing is most pronounced among ants. Ants mostly lack differences in coloration, wing venation, and other characteristics that are used to distinguish species from another in other insect groups, so micro sculpturing patterns have become an important characteristic for ant taxonomists to tell species apart To describe these patterns, they have invented a lexicon of highly descriptive terms that can challenge even the most ardent student of myrmecology. We group terms from the taxonomic literature into broad functional groups based on similar definitions. We then used these groupings to create a simplified functional categorization system to associate clear textural differences with functionality. The system sorts all cuticle textures into five categories: Striate, Reticulate, Punctate, Tuberous, and Smooth. We also explore the connection between function and form by applying these classifications to the phylogeny to the highly diverse genus of Polyrhachis. We found that there is an association between nesting site and cuticle sculpturing.