Data from: Temnothorax caryaluteus sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): A new ant species from the eastern United States

<p>Although the ant genus <em>Temnothorax</em> 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 <em>Temnothorax</em> species that has consistently been misidentified in museum collections as <em>T. ambiguus, </em>a common inhabitant of acorn shells and leaf litter. Unlike <em>Temnothorax ambiguus</em>, the newly described <em>T. caryaluteus</em> sp. nov. apparently nests primarily in arboreal microhabitats such as dead branches on live trees, especially <em>Carya </em>and <em>Quercus</em> spp. We compare the morphology of <em>T.</em> <em>caryaluteus</em> sp. nov. against similar appearing congeners, delineate diagnostic characters, and provide an updated key to the <em>Temnothorax </em>species of eastern North America.</p>