Andy Suarez and I are excited to announce the release our
Antkey.org project. The project was funded by USDA-APHIS-PPQ-
CPHST and the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) Rubenstein Fellowship
program to provide an online identification guide to invasive,
introduced and commonly intercepted ants. Over 15,000 species of
ants have been described, and more than 200 have established
populations outside of their native ranges. A small subset of
these have become highly destructive invaders including five
which are currently listed among the world’s 100 worst invasive
species. Unfortunately, detection of non-native ants is hampered
by the taxonomic specialization required for accurate species
identification. Antkey seeks to mitigate the spread of
established introduced ants and prevent the incursion of new
introductions by providing quarantine personnel, inspectors and
conservation biologists with a user-friendly identification
resource specifically designed for non-specialists. Antkey
focuses on over 115 ant species that are