Yuku free message boards

Hello Antfan:

Good question. I couldn't find the original description online, in order to learn if the author defined the meaning of this name.

Your guess that this name combined the Latin root agr- with the Greek root oik- was logical, but appears to me incorrect. This name seems to be purely Greek, especially since W. M. Wheeler was a classical language scholar before becoming a biologist, and I am sure his coining of names would have been more purist (not mixing Latin and Greek, for example). My Greek source has a very large number of words beginning with agr-. From among this long list, it seems most likely that the name is based on the Greek word agroikos, which means uncultured, rustic, boorish, brutish, savage, wild. Perhaps Wheeler was remarking on the "rough" appearance of of this ant

A search reveals that a few years ago, K. Kris made the same guess as I about this name. See his post here: p211.ezboard.com/Taxonomy...D=15.topic