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Fiji Ant Genera
A list of species from Fiji can be found here: Fiji
Lordomyrma
Sarnat (2016) - Within the Fiji archipelago, the genus has been collected from the two largest islands (Viti Levu and Vanua Levu) and from a handful of mid-sized islands, including Koro, Taveuni, Ovalau and Kadavu. Little is known about the biology of the Fijian Lordomyrma beyond their association with undisturbed mesic forests, maintenance of small inconspicuous colonies in soil and rotting logs, and their collection from the leaf litter and, to a lesser extent, the forest canopy.
The worker caste of all Fijian species of Lordomyrma can be recognized by the following features: In full face view, head subquadrate, broadest width occurring just posterior to eyes. Mandibles triangular, with sparse setigerous foveolae; masticatory margin with four strong teeth apically and three to five denticles basally, all decreasing in size. Anterior margin of clypeus entire and evenly convex. Frontal lobes moderately broad and flat. Antenna 12-merous with terminal three segments forming a distinct club that is as long as the rest of the funiculi combined; scapes short and curved, not surpassing posterior margin of head. Eyes weakly convex with short curved hairs between ommatidia; situated in front of midline. In profile, ventrolateral margin of head delineated by a carina originating at posterior margin and terminating at level of eye. Promesonotum longer than broad; in profile round and convex; suture between the two segments absent; without projecting humeri. Metanotal groove broad and strongly impressed. In profile, propodeum with dorsal and declivitous faces concave; armed with one pair of spines. Petiole with a short peduncle and a high node. Gaster of moderate size, armed with a simple sting.
Distribution of Lordomyrma in Fiji
Lordomyrma is a relatively rare and inconspicuous member of the Fijian ant fauna. Although litter sifting has proved an effective method for capturing Lordomyrma species, their small, dispersed and inconspicuous nests combine with a small, slow-moving and well-camouflaged worker caste to make detection of these ants difficult in the field. Despite the wide coverage of the litter sifting transects and hand collecting localities, the low abundances of individuals captured suggest that the distributions reported in this study may represent a limited picture of actual species ranges. Of the ten islands and island groups sampled in the recent surveys, Lordomyrma species were found on eight The recent collection of Lordomyrma tortuosa from the island of Moala represents the most remote population of the genus in the archipelago. While it remains possible that Lordomyrma is also established on the Yasawa island chain in western Fiji and the Lau island group in eastern Fiji, the lack of sizeable, mesic and undisturbed forests in these regions limits the chances of their discovery. However, the larger island of Gau in the Lomaiviti province does appear to have suitable habitat for Lordomyrma, and the lack of records from that island is more likely the result of poor sampling than range limitation.
Although L. tortuosa is known from all eight islands on which Lordomyrma is recorded, the distributions of the other Fijian Lordomyrma tend to be more geographically restricted. For example, five species (Lordomyrma desupra, Lordomyrma levifrons, Lordomyrma rugosa, Lordomyrma stoneri, Lordomyrma vuda) are recorded only from Viti Levu and one species (Lordomyrma curvata) is known only from Vanua Levu. Another pattern revealed from the distribution records is that nine out of the ten species occur on Viti Levu. While Vanua Levu (5,535 km2) is approximately half the area of Viti Levu (10,388 km2), only three species have been recorded from the island. Although there may be compelling biogeographic explanations for this pattern, it must also be noted that Viti Levu is the better sampled of the two big islands.