DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp08q
title: Data from: Temnothorax caryaluteus sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): A new ant species from the eastern United States

description: Although the ant genus Temnothorax is broadly distributed, extremely
 diverse, and likely still contains multitudes of undescribed species,
 discovering new species of this genus in eastern North America is rare due
 to the high concentration of taxonomic effort on this region. Here, we
 recognize and describe a new Temnothorax species that has consistently
 been misidentified in museum collections as T. ambiguus, a common
 inhabitant of acorn shells and leaf litter. Unlike Temnothorax ambiguus,
 the newly described T. caryaluteus sp. nov. apparently nests primarily in
 arboreal microhabitats such as dead branches on live trees, especially
 Carya and Quercus spp. We compare the morphology of T. caryaluteus sp.
 nov. against similar appearing congeners, delineate diagnostic characters,
 and provide an updated key to the Temnothorax species of eastern North
 America.
description: This study is based on examination of 342 workers and 38 gynes,
 with measurements taken from 130 specimens: 107 workers and 23 gynes. We
 compared three species that are most likely to be confused with each
 other: <em>Temnothorax ambiguus, T. curvispinosus</em>, and
 <em>T. caryaluteus sp. nov.</em> All measurements and
 morphological observations in thus study were performed at a maximum
 magnification of 160X using a Leica M205C stereomicroscope, a movable
 stage equipped with orthogonal digital micrometers, and an ocular
 graticule.  Means of raw morphological measurements and
 indices of <em>Temnothorax ambiguus</em>, <em>T.
 curvispinosus,</em> and <em>T. caryaluteus </em>sp. nov.
 were compared with the pairwise Wilcoxon test, and an overall significance
 of each set of comparisons was calculated using the Kruskal-Wallis
 test.
description: # Data from: Temnothorax caryaluteus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): A new ant
 species from eastern North America
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp08q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp08q) This README file was generated on 2024-3-20 by Matthew Prebus, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ USA. email: [mprebus@gmail.com](mailto:mprebus@gmail.c) This repository contains the raw morphometric data and R script used to compare the similar appearing species *Temnothorax ambiguus, T. curvispinosus,* and *T. caryaluteus* sp. nov. 1. Date of data collection: 2021-2023 2. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: NSF CAREER DEB-1943626 ## Description of the data and file structure DATA & FILE OVERVIEW A. File list: 1. gyne_measurements.csv 2. gyne_morphometrics.R 3. worker_measurements.csv 4. worker_morphometrics.R B. Relationship between files: 1. gyne_measurements.csv contains the raw morphometric data used as input for a pairwise Wilcoxon test comparing the means of several morphological measurements between the gynes (female sexual caste) of the ant species *Temnothorax ambiguus*, *T. curvispinosus,* and *T. caryaluteus* sp. nov. 2. gyne_morphometrics.R contains the R script used to analyze the raw morphometric collected from gynes of the ant species *Temnothorax ambiguus*, *T. curvispinosus,* and *T. caryaluteus* sp. nov. 3. worker_measurements.csv contains the raw morphometric data used as input for a pairwise Wilcoxon test comparing the means of several morphological measurements between the workers of the ant species *Temnothorax ambiguus*, *T. curvispinosus,* and *T. caryaluteus* sp. nov. 4. worker_morphometrics.R contains the R script used to analyze the raw morphometric collected from workers of the ant species *Temnothorax ambiguus*, *T. curvispinosus,* and *T. caryaluteus* sp. nov. \####################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: gyne_measurements.csv 1. File format: .csv, comma-separated values file, which allows data to be saved in a tabular format. 2. Software used to generate this file: LibreOffice v7.5.2.2. 3. Number of variables: 55 4. Number of rows: 24 5. Description: all raw measurements are in millimeters, and taken from gyne specimens as described in the methods section of the original article. See original article for illustrations of the variables. Variable list: SpecimenCode: unique specimen identifiers, which are unique alpha-numerical codes that are physically associated with voucher specimens (mounted on the same pins) used in this study. CollectionCode: collection codes are alpha-numerical codes that identify unique collection events. In this case they denote collections of worker ants from separate nests. Subfamily: subfamily of the voucher specimen. Genus: genus of the voucher specimen. Species: species of the voucher specimen. LifeStageSex: number of, life stage, and caste of the voucher specimen. 'aq' = alate gyne (gyne with wings); 'dq' = dealate gyne (gyne without wings; 'w' = worker. Adm1: state or province in which the voucher specimen was collected, referred to by their ISO 3166 two-letter state or province abbreviations. SL: Scape length. maximum scape length excluding the basal neck and the articular condyle. FRS: Frontal carina distance. Distance between the frontal carinae immediately caudal of the posterior intersection points between frontal carinae and torular lamellae. If these dorsal lamellae do not laterally surpass the frontal carinae, the deepest point of scape corner pits may be taken as the reference line. These pits take up the inner corner of the scape base when the scape is directed fully caudally and produces a dark, triangular shadow in the lateral frontal lobes immediately posterior to the dorsal lamellae of the scape joint capsule. CW: Maximum width of the head, including the compound eyes. CWb: Maximum width of head capsule without the compound eyes, measured posterior to the eyes. PoOC: Postocular distance. Adjust the head to the measuring position of CL. Using an ocular graticule, PoOC is the length between posterior margin of the compound eyes and the posterior margin of the head capsule. If the posterior margin of the head capsule is excavated, then the measurement is taken from an imaginary line that spans the excavation from the posterior-most margins. CL: Maximum cephalic length. The head must be carefully tilted to the position, providing the true maximum. If excavations of the posterior margin of the head capsule and/or anterior margin of the clypeus are present, then the measurement is taken from an imaginary line that spans the excavations from the posterior- or anterior-most margins. EL: Maximum diameter of the compound eye. EW: Minimum diameter of the compound eye MD: Malar distance. Minimum distance from the anterior margin of the compound eye to where the mandible articulates with the head capsule. WL: Weber’s length. Distance between the caudalmost point of propodeal lobe to the inflection point between the pronotal neck and the pronotal declivity. SPST: Propodeal spine length. Distance between the center of the propodeal spiracle and the tip of the propodeal spine. MPST: Maximum distance from the center of the propodeal spiracle to the posteroventral corner of the ventrolateral margin of the metapleuron. PEL: Petiole length. Diagonal petiolar length in lateral view; measured from the apex of the subpetiolar process to the posterodorsal corner of caudal cylinder. NOL: Petiolar node length. Measured in lateral view from the center of the petiolar spiracle to an imaginary line that joins the posterodorsal and posteroventral corners of the caudal cylinder. NOH: Petiolar node height. Maximum height of the petiolar node, measured in lateral view from the uppermost point of the petiolar node perpendicular to a reference line set from the petiolar spiracle to the imaginary midpoint of the transition between the dorso-caudal slope of the node and dorsal profile of caudal cylinder of the petiole. PEH: Petiole height. The longest distance measured from the ventral petiolar profile at node level (perpendicular to the chord length of the petiolar sternum, excluding the subpetiolar process) to the distalmost point of the dorsal profile of the petiolar node. PPL: Postpetiole length. The longest distance, perpendicular to the posterior margin of the postpetiole, between the posterior postpetiolar margin and the anterior postpetiolar margin, excluding the helcium. PPH: Maximum height of the postpetiole in lateral view measured perpendicularly to a line defined by the linear section of the segment border between postpetiolar tergite and sternite. PW: Pronotum width. Maximum width of the pronotum in dorsal view. SBPA: Minimum propodeal spine distance. The smallest distance of the lateral margins of the propodeal spines at their base. This should be measured in antero-dorsal view: the wider parts of the ventral propodeum do not interfere with the measurement in this position. If the lateral margins of propodeal spines diverge continuously from the tip to the base, a smallest distance at base is not defined. In this case, SPBA is measured at the level of the bottom of the interspinal meniscus. SPTI: Apical propodeal spine distance. The distance of propodeal spine tips in dorsal view; if spine tips are rounded or truncated, the centers of spine tips are taken as reference points. PEW: Maximum width of petiole in dorsal view, measured across the widest point of the caudal cylinder. PNW: Width of petiolar node in dorsal view, using the anterior pair of node setae as anchor points. PPW: Postpetiole width. Maximum width of postpetiole in dorsal view. HFL: Hind femur length. Maximum length of the metafemur in dorsal view. HFWmax: Maximum metafemur width in dorsal view. HFWmin: Minimum metafemur width in dorsal view, taken at the point of articulation with the trochanter. CS: Absolute cephalic size. The arithmetic mean of CL and CWb. ES: Absolute eye size. The arithmetic mean of EL and EW. SI: Scape index: SL/CWb X 100. EI: Eye index: EL/CWb X 100. CI: Cephalic length index: CWb/CL X 100. WLI: Weber’s length index: WL/CWb X 100. SBI: Propodeal spine base index: SBPA/CWb X 100. PSI: Propodeal spine length index: SPST/WL X 100. PWI: Postpetiole width index: PPW/PEW X 100. PLI: Petiole length index: PEL/PPL X 100. NI: Petiolar node shape index: NOL/NOH X 100. PNWI: Petiolar node width index: PNW/PEW X 100. NLI: Petiolar node length index: NOL/PEL X 100. FI: Metafemur width index: HFWmax/HFWmin X 100. FRSI: Frontal carina distance index: FRS/CWb X 100. SPTII: Apical propodeal spine distance index: SPTI/CWb X 100. 6. Missing data codes: None. Entries were left blank if the voucher specimen was missing the body part specified to be measured. 7. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None \####################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: gyne_morphometrics.R 1. File format: .R, R script. We used R v4.1.3 to run this script. 2. Software used to generate this file: Atom text editor. 3. Packages used: ggpubr. 4. Description: this is the script that was used to analyze "gyne_morphometrics.csv". To run, the "ggpubr" library with dependencies must be installed. 5. Missing data codes: None 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None \####################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: worker_measurements.csv 1. File format: .csv, comma-separated values file, which allows data to be saved in a tabular format. 2. Software used to generate this file: LibreOffice v7.5.2.2. 3. Number of variables: 55 4. Number of rows: 108 5. Description: all raw measurements are in millimeters, and taken from worker specimens as described in the methods section of the original article. See original article for illustrations of the variables. See "gyne_measurements.csv" description above for a description of the variable list. 6. Missing data codes: None. Entries were left blank if the voucher specimen was missing the body part specified to be measured. 7. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None. \####################################################################### DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: gyne_morphometrics.R 1. File format: .R, R script. We used R v4.1.3 to run this script. 2. Software used to generate this file: Atom text editor. 3. Packages used: ggpubr. 4. Description: this is the script that was used to analyze "worker_morphometrics.csv". To run, the "ggpubr" library with dependencies must be installed. 5. Missing data codes: None 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: None ## Sharing/Access information 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain 2. Links to publications that cite or use the data: Prebus MM, Nguyen N, Booher D. 2024. *Temnothorax caryaluteus* (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a new, widespread ant species from eastern North America. European Journal of Taxonomy 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None. 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: None. 5. Was data derived from another source? No. 6. Recommended citation for this dataset: Prebus MM, Nguyen N, Booher D. 2024. Data from: *Temnothorax caryaluteus* (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a new, widespread species from eastern North America. Dryad Digital Repository. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp08q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.tb2rbp08q)