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Subfamily FORMICINAE
Tribe LASIINI
Nylanderia flavipes (F. Smith)
Nylanderia flavipes, full face view of a worker (click image to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/
Nylanderia flavipes, profile view of a worker (click image to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/

Nylanderia flavipes, full face view of a worker (click image to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/
Nylanderia flavipes, profile view of a worker (click image to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/

Nylanderia flavipes, dorsal view of a worker (click image to enlarge).
Photo courtesy of http://www.antweb.org/

Introduction
Ants in the genus Nylanderia (Formicinae) are relatively small, pale yellow to almost black, and can be distinguished from other Formicinae in our region by the coarse, long, barbed and usually dark setae (macrochaetae or macrosetae), which are arranged in distinct pairs on the dorsum of the head and mesosoma and scattered on the gaster.

Trager (1984) revised the genus, then called Paratrechina, for the continental United States. LaPolla et al. (2010) elevated the subgenus Nylanderia to the generic level, which in effect, meant that all Nearctic Paratrechina species except for P. longicornis were now placed in Nylanderia. In 2012, Kallal and Lapolla (2012) revived the genus and provided an updated key for the Nearctic region. However, there are still some undescribed species in this group that which may be parasitic on other Nylanderia species.  These species apparently do not have a worker caste, and the males are unusual in that they have characteristics of both males and workers. 

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