Introduction
Dolichoderus species found in the U.S are small to medium sized ants. They are atypical compared to other North American Dolichoderinae in that the integument is harder, and not as thin and flexible as in our other Dolichoderine genera. Additionally, they can be characterized by having strong sculpture on the alitrunk, and by the declivious face of the propodeum being strongly concave (see side view above). Species found in the U.S. possess "repugnatorial" glands, which produce a pungent or smoky smelling volatile secretion (Creighton 1950).

Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2015)

Hypoclinea taschenbergi Mayr, 1866: 498 (w.) U.S.A. Nearctic. 
Wheeler & Wheeler, 1951: 173 (l.); MacKay, 1993: 100 (q.m.). Combination in Dolichoderus: Mayr, 1886d: 437; in Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea): Emery, 1894d: 229. Senior synonym of Dolichoderus taschenbergi aterrimus: Creighton, 1950: 336. of the unnecessary replacement name Dolichoderus wheeleriella: Smith, 1951: 834. See also: Wheeler, G. C & Wheeler, J. 1966: 728; Smith, 1979: 1416; Francoeur & Elias, 1985: 303; Johnson, 1989: 4; MacKay, 1993: 99; Shattuck, 1994: 69.

Identification
Workers of Dolichoderus taschenbergi can be distinguished by the following characteristics: head with regular, but shallow punctures; alitrunk and propodeal dorsum with stronger punctures, some foveolate; body mostly lacking erect hairs except for a few on scapes (apex), head, pronotum, and gaster; the dorsal surface of the propodeum subquadrate, less than 1.2 times as long as broad; color is a uniform brownish black to piceous.

Biology and Economic Importance
According to Creighton (1950), this species has large colonies with thousands of workers. Nests are usually in sandy soils and constructed beneath grasses or bushes. They are found in a variety of habitats including open grassy areas to shaded forests. Similar to other Dolichoderus species, they collect the sweet secretions produced by various homopterans and eat other insects for sustenance. Apparently, colonies have multiple queens. t.

Distribution
Nova Scotia, Canada westward to Manitoba and North Dakota, southward, the to North and South Carolina and westward to Louisiana. In the Southeast it has been reported from AL, AR, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN.

Literature Cited
Bolton, B. 2015. An online catalog of the ants of the world. Online at: http://antcat.org. Accessed 1 December 2015.

Creighton, W. S. 1950. The ants of North America. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 104:1-585. 

Emery, C. 1894. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. VI-XVI. Bullettino della Società Entomologica Italiana 26:137-241.

Francoeur, A.; Elias, S. A. 1985. Dolichoderus taschenbergi Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from an early Holocene fossil insect assemblage in the Colorado Front Range. Psyche (Cambridge) 92:303-307.

Johnson, C. 1989. Identification and nesting sites of North American species of Dolichoderus Lund (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insecta Mundi 3:1-9.

MacKay, W. P. 1993. A review of the New World ants of the genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology 22:1-148. 

Mayr, G. 1866a. Myrmecologische Beiträge. Sitzungsberichte der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Classe. Abteilung I 53:484-517.

Mayr, G. 1886. Die Formiciden der Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien 36:419-464. 

Shattuck, S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112:i-xix, 1-241.

Smith, D. R. 1979. Superfamily Formicoidea. Pp. 1323-1467 in: Krombein, K. V.; Hurd, P. D.; Smith, D. R.; Burks, B. D. (eds.) 1979. Catalog of Hymenoptera in America north of Mexico. Volume 2. Apocrita (Aculeata). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. i-xvi, 1199-2209. 

Smith, M. R. 1951c. Family Formicidae. Pp. 778-875 in: Muesebeck, C. F.; Krombein, K. V.; Townes, H. K. (eds.) 1951. Hymenoptera of America north of Mexico. Synoptic catalogue. United States Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Monograph 2:1-1420.

Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1966. Ant larva of the subfamily Dolichoderinae: supplement. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 59:726-732.

Links

AntWeb
AntWiki