ABSTRACT
The genus, Solenopsis has undergone many changes over the last 60 years. It has been traditionally divided into several subgenera (Creighton 1930), which were synonymized by Ettershank (1966). In 1968, Baroni-Urbani separated Diplorhoptrum, small monomorphic species commonly known as thief ants, from Solenopsis. Within the genus Solenopsis there are several species complexes, based on morphology. The largest complex is saevissima. The Solenopsis saevissima complex has undergone many revisions, and is currently undergoing yet another (James Trager, personal communication). Creighton (1930) lumped 16 species into 8 subspecies or varieties. Wilson (1952) believed that most of the subspecies represented unstable hybrid variants and consolidated the complex into two species, S. interrupta and S. saevissima, and one subspecies, S. saevissima var. richteri. Ettershank (1966) preserved only S. saevissima and S. interrupta. Most recently Buren (1972) recognized Ettershank’s two species, raised S. richteri (the black imported fire ant) and S. quinquecuspis to species rank and described two new species, S. invicta (the red imported fire ant) and S. blumi. There are probably many undescribed saevissima complex species in South America (Buren 1972; MacConnell et al. 1976); thus researchers anxiously await Trager’s taxonomic revision.
