Spread of a Subtropical Australian Ant, Ochetellus glaber clarithorax (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), in Central Florida

Ochetellus glaber clarithorax is an ant native to humid subtropical areas of Queensland and New South Wales in eastern Australia. In 1979, a non-native population of O. glaber was reported from Winter Park, in Orange County, Florida. Since then, there have been several other O. glaber site records in Florida, all from Orange County, except one from neighboring Lake County. In 2019–2020, I collected this species, which I identify as Ochetellus glaber clarithorax, at 17 sites in east-central Florida, ranging in latitude from 28.3°N–29.8°N, all from sites with a humid subtropical climate. These include the first site records of this species from Brevard, Flagler, Osceola, St Johns, Seminole, and Volusia counties. My new Florida records of O. glaber clarithorax suggest that populations are expanding northward and eastward, but not southward. Ochetellus glaber clarithorax is one of the few non-native ants in Florida not known from the more southern, tropical parts of the state. Ochetellus glaber clarithorax may only be able to successfully invade humid subtropical areas.