New records of nine ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) for the Galapagos Islands

Abstract Collections of the Charles Darwin Research Station, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, as well as new field samples obtained from several islands on Galapagos yielded new records of nine ant species for the archipelago: Tapinoma sp. HH07, Nylanderia steinheili (Forel, 1893), Crematogaster sp. JTL-022, Pheidole sp. HH01, Tetramorium lucayanum Wheeler, 1905, Strumigenys eggersi (Emery, 1890), Solenopsis sp. HH06, Hypoponera opacior (Forel, 1893), Odontomachus ruginodis Smith, 1937. Currently, the known number of ant species in the Galapagos is 51, 36 of which are thought to be introduced. Reasons for this recent increase of records of introduced ant species are discussed.