Worldwide spread of the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The Argentine ant, Linepithema humile (MAYR, 1868), originally from subtropical South America, is an important pest in many parts of the world. To evaluate its worldwide distribution and potential for further spread, we mapped records of L. humile from > 2100 sites. Because several South and Central American Linepithema species have been often mis-identified as L. humile, we excluded all unconfirmed South and Central American records. We documented the earliest known L. humile records for 95 geographic areas (countries, island groups, major islands, and US states), including several for which we found no previously published records. We could not confirm any L. humile records from several South and Central…

• NS
  National Science Foundation
• AM
  American Museum of Natural History
• NG
  National Geographic Society
• FA
  Florida Atlantic University
• UD
  Universidad del Atlántico