Data from: Untangling the ant claws: The army ant (Formicidae: Dorylinae) Labidus mars is a Neivamyrmex

<p>The New World army ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) comprise the five genera of the <em>Eciton </em>species group, and together they are important keystone predators in tropical and subtropical environments. Generic boundaries in the group have been considered solid and stable for nearly 100 years. Workers of the widespread and diverse genus <em>Neivamyrmex</em> are readily separable from the other four genera by lacking a subapical tooth on the tarsal claw, while males can be separated with genitalic characters. The genus <em>Labidus</em> is also widespread and is often abundant, with several species that are conspicuous surface foragers. The least known species of <em>Labidus</em> is <em>L. mars</em>, the workers of which have the tarsal tooth but otherwise share many traits with some <em>Neivamyrmex</em>, being completely eyeless and subterranean. This led us to question its generic placement. Here, we used ultraconserved element (UCE) phylogenomics to show that <em>Labidus mars</em> belongs to the genus <em>Neivamyrmex.</em> All phylogenies, inferred using multiple partitioning schemes and a species tree analysis, recovered the same topology, placing<em> Labidus mars</em> workers within <em>Neivamyrmex</em>. Sequenced males of <em>L. mars</em> were found to be within <em>Labidus</em> and thus incorrectly associated with <em>L. mars</em>. Based on these results and review of key specimens, including types, the following taxonomic changes are made: <em>Neivamyrmex mars </em>(Forel, 1912) is a new combination; <em>Labidus nero </em>(Santschi, 1930)<strong> </strong>(rev. stat.) is a male-based taxon revived from synonymy under <em>L. mars</em>; and <em>L. denticulatus </em>(Borgmeier, 1955) (new stat.), a male-based taxon and former subspecies of <em>L. mars</em>, is raised to species.</p>