Anochetus pattersoni

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Anochetus pattersoni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Genus: Anochetus
Species: A. pattersoni
Binomial name
Anochetus pattersoni
Fisher, 2008

Anochetus pattersoni casent0068352 profile 1.jpg

Anochetus pattersoni casent0068352 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Males have been collected in Malaise traps.

Identification

No other species of Anochetus have been recorded from the Seychelles.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Known only from the Aldabra Island group, Seychelles. A majority of collections have come from Isle Picard.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -9.392777778° to -9.392777778°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Malagasy Region: Madagascar, Seychelles (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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Distribution based on AntWeb specimens

Check data from AntWeb

Countries Occupied

Number of countries occupied by this species based on AntWiki Regional Taxon Lists. In general, fewer countries occupied indicates a narrower range, while more countries indicates a more widespread species.
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Estimated Abundance

Relative abundance based on number of AntMaps records per species (this species within the purple bar). Fewer records (to the left) indicates a less abundant/encountered species while more records (to the right) indicates more abundant/encountered species.
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Biology

Explore-icon.png Explore Overview of Anochetus biology 
Not much is known about the the biology of Anochetus pattersoni but we can presume that its biology is similar to other Anochetus species. The following account of Anochetus biology is modified from Brown (1968):

Habitat. The places where Anochetus live are varied. Where they penetrate into the temperate zone, most species excavate nests in the earth. Occasionally the nest is dug under a covering rock. In the tropics, many nests are also dug in the soil, but in moist forested areas, a common site is the soil beneath a rotting log or other large mass of rotting wood, with extensions of the nest into the log itself. Another frequent nesting site in tropical forest is in the humus and leaf litter at the base of large trees, particularly between buttress roots. Anochetus species of medium or small size often nest in small pieces of rotting wood or bark, or even small rotting twigs or seeds and nuts lying in or on the forest litter. Some species tend to choose more arboreal nest sites.

Diet. Foraging for living animal prey takes place on the soil surface, within the soil-humus-log mold matrix, or on the trunks, branches and foliage of trees and plants wherever these are available. Fragmentary evidence indicates that most epigaeically foraging tropical Anochetus tend to do their foraging at dusk, at night, or during dawn hours. I found Anochetus africanus walking on tree trunks only at night in the Ivory Coast. Some species, particularly those with red heads or other aposematic coloration, apparently forage in the open more during the day. No systematic comparative study has yet been made of foraging hours for different species.

The food of Anochetus consists principally of living arthropods caught and killed or incapacitated by the ants. The smaller and more delicate species Anochetus inermis has been observed by me in a laboratory nest. The colony came from a piece of rotten wood from the floor of a wet ravine near Bucay in western Ecuador. The colony was fed with small tenebrionid beetle larvae (Tribolium castaneum), comparable in size to the A. inermis workers, and the latter attacked the prey with their mandibles in the familiar snapping manner, but very cautiously and nervously, with stealthy approach, extremely rapid strike, and instant recoil-retreat. After several attacks of this kind, with intervening periods of waiting, during which the beetle larvae fled, rested, or writhed about in distress, an ant would finally attack with its mandibles and hold them closed on the prey for long enough to deliver a quick sting in the intersegmental membrane. After this, the prey appeared to be paralyzed, or at least subdued, and sooner or later was carried off by the ant to the nest, and eventually placed on an ant larva.

Frequent delays and excursions before the prey are finally immobilized and brought to the ant larvae in the nest may well have the function of allowing time for protective allomones of the prey to dissipate. Many tenebrionid adults, including Tribofium, possess potent quinonoid defensive allomones, but the larva is not known to possess quinones in this genus.

Nuptial flight. Although males of different species of Anochetus are commonly taken at light, other species are not. Stewart and Jarmila Peck gave me Malaise trap samples taken in western Ecuador that contained males of several species, but Malaise traps capture both day- and night-flying insects.

Defense. When a nest of any of the larger Anochetus species is breached, some of the workers immediately hide beneath leaves or other objects, while other workers rush about with open jaws, which they snap at foreign objects, or even at leaves and twigs, with an audible tick. On human skin or clothing, a worker will snap her jaws and hold fast to the surface with them, at the same time quickly bringing her gaster around to sting. The sting is long and strong, and to me the effect is shocking and quickly painful.

Most of the smaller and medium-sized Anochetus species feign death when disturbed, crouching flat against the surface, or rolling themselves into a ball and remaining still, often for a minute or more. Only when held do they sting. Their stings can be felt in most cases, but the effect is usually trifling. ‎

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Anochetus pattersoni casent0172374 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172374 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172374 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172374 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0172374. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ANIC, Canberra, Australia.
Anochetus pattersoni casent0172375 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172375 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172375 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172375 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0172375. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by ANIC, Canberra, Australia.
Anochetus pattersoni casent0172609 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172609 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172609 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172609 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0172609. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by LACM, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Anochetus pattersoni casent0172610 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172610 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172610 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172610 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0172610. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by LACM, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Anochetus pattersoni casent0068352 head 2.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0068352 profile 2.jpg
Holotype of Anochetus pattersoniWorker. Specimen code casent0068352. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Anochetus pattersoni casent0102280 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0102280 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0102280 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0102280 label 1.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102280. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Anochetus pattersoni casent0103343 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0103343 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0103343 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0103343 label 1.jpg
Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0103343. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Male

Images from AntWeb

Anochetus pattersoni casent0172611 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172611 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172611 profile 2.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172611 profile 3.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172611 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172611 label 1.jpg
Male (alate). Specimen code casent0172611. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by LACM, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Anochetus pattersoni casent0172617 head 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172617 profile 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172617 profile 2.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172617 profile 3.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172617 profile 4.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172617 dorsal 1.jpgAnochetus pattersoni casent0172617 label 1.jpg
Male (alate). Specimen code casent0172617. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by LACM, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.

  • pattersoni. Anochetus pattersoni Fisher, in Fisher & Smith, 2008: 13, figs. 7a-h, 8d (w.q.m.) SEYCHELLES (Aldabra Group).
    • Type-material: holotype worker.
    • Type-locality: Seychelles: Aldabra Group, Picard I., in old “Settlement”, 9°23’34’’S, 46°12’14’’E, 5 m., 19.xii.1905, SMG14998 (S.M. Goodman).
    • Type-depository: CASC.
    • Distribution: Seychelles (Aldabra Group).

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

Measurements: maximum and minimum based on all specimens, n = 8, (holotype): HL 1.32–1.40 (1.40), HW 1.25–1.31 (1.31), CI 93–95 (94), EL 0.20–0.26 (0.23), ML 0.67–0.72 (0.72), MI 50–51 (51), SL 1.07–1.15 (1.15) SI 85–88 (88), WL 1.62–1.79 (1.78), FL 1.11–1.20 (1.19), PW 0.70–0.76 (0.74).

Dorsal margin of petiole node concave medially. Anterior portion of pronotal dorsum lightly sculptured compared to posterior portion of pronotum. Propodeal dorsum and angle transversely coarsely rugose, declivitous face below angle with transverse striae, with sculpture thinning near base of face; propodeum angulate in lateral view. Petiole scale broad; anterior half of first gastral tergum smooth and shiny with only fine punctures at base of setae. This species is most similar to the graeffei a widespread species across the Indo-Pacific, but differs from the latter by the pattern of sculpture on the mesosomal dorsum, shape the petiole (concave), broader petiole node as seen in lateral view, and its much larger size (HL+ML 1.99–2.12 mm in pattersoni, HL+ML<1.75 mm in Anochetus graeffei).

Queen

Measurements: maximum and minimum based on n = 1. HL 1.31, HW 1.29, CI 99, EL 0.30, ML 0.64, MI 49, SL 1.05, SI 81, WL 1.81, FL 1.15, PW 0.79.

Male

Measurements: maximum and minimum based on n = 2 from Madagascar: HL 0.86–0.87, HW 1.07–1.10, CI 124–126, EL 0.65–0.67, SL 0.18, SI 17, WL 1.72–1.77, FL 1.21–1.26

Type Material

Holotype: worker, Seychelles Aldabra Group, Picard Island, in old “Settlement” 09°23′34"S 046°12′14"E 5 m, mostly Casuarina with coco palms, exotic vegetation, found after dark on concrete slab in abandoned settlement 19-Dec-05 (coll. S.M.Goodman) collection code: SMG14998 CASENT0068352 1w (California Academy of Sciences).

References

  • Fisher, B. L. and M. A. Smith. 2008. A Revision of Malagasy Species of Anochetus Mayr and Odontomachus Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). PloS one. 3:e1787.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Fisher B. L., and M. A. Smith. 2008. A revision of Malagasy species of Anochetus Mayr and Odontomachus Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). PLoS ONE 3(5): e1787. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0001787