A Checklist of the Ants of Montana

The history of myrmecology in Montana probably began in 1913 with Wheeler’s description of Formica subpolita from Helena and 1914 when he described a new species, Manica hunterifrom Gallatin County. A considerable hiatus ensued until 1932 when Cole recorded Pogonomyrmex occidentalis from Custer County. In 1973 Borchert and Anderson published a thorough ecological analysis of the ants of the Bearpaw Mountains, one of the small ranges, which is mostly in Hill County. Thirty-three species were reported. In 1984 Youngs and Campbell published the results of a study of ants preying upon the western spruce budworm near the western border. They reported 4 species of Camponotus and 7 species of Formica from 3 localities in Missoula County and one in Sanders County, but they failed to indicate which species was taken in which locality. These records are indicated by YC. Six other authors have contributed a few records each. From Wing we got four records as spots on maps. D. R. Smith contributed three species for the whole state. Five records are represented by gifts of specimens from Creighton. Finally we are greatly indebted to Roy R. Snelling for sending us 63 additional records based on specimens in the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum. During the summers of 1956, 1961, 1963, 1964 and 1965, while we were still at the University of North Dakota (Grand Forks), we made seven field trips into Montana to observe and collect ants in 32 of the 56 counties. These expeditions yielded a total of 151 records in 64 species. (A record is a species in a locality.) From all these records we extracted a list of 76 species of ants for the state of Montana.