The Kentucky Ant Project: An Attempt to Catalogue the Ant Species of Kentucky

There are 74 ant species in Kentucky and 55 ant species in West Virginia. In most of the surrounding states, ant species counts are nearly double, or at least 49 more ant species than either of these two states. This indicates that there have been minimal sampling efforts in Kentucky and West Virginia.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2023/1021/thumbnail.jp

Development of a DNA Barcoding Protocol to Identify Previously Unknown Populations of Forelius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Kentucky

In 2021, we started an initiative to sample the ants of Kentucky called the Kentucky Ant Project (KYAP). As part of our efforts to sample ants in the state, we need to be able to identify them! Usually, this is done by examining the morphology of ant specimens, but it\u27s incredibly difficult, or impossible to identify some ants with current morphological identification resources. To remedy this, we decided to develop a genetic protocol to assist in identifying these ants. One such problematic ant to identify with morphology is Forelius, which is a genus of generalist foraging species. When we gave our last report on the project in 2023, records of this genus were completely absent from any sampling efforts in Kentucky. Early in 2023, we managed to find 2 populations of Forelius in Rowan county, marking the first discovery of this entire genus in Kentucky. To identify this problematic genus, we elected to sequence a specific gene (Cytochrome-c Oxidase /, or COi) that is used to \u27barcode\u27 or identify species of animals based on the number of matching nucleotides that two specimens share. The more matches a pair has, the more similar they are to each other, and they are more likely to be the same species.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/celebration_posters_2024/1036/thumbnail.jp