Key to Polyrhachis Cyrtomyrma of China and the Indo-China Peninsula

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online

This worker key is based on: Xu, Z.-H. 2002b. A systematic study on the ant subgenus Cyrtomyrma Forel of the genus Polyrhachis Smith of China (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Entomol. Sin. 45: 522-530

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Figures 1-19.
Figures 20-37.

1

  • Shoulders of pronotum form a pair of acute or right angles . . . . . 2
  • Shoulders of pronotum roundly prominent or rounded . . . . . 6

2

return to couplet #1

  • Propodeum with a pair of small denticles. Petiolar node with only a pair of long lateral spines (Figs. 1- 4) (China: Yunnan) . . . . . Polyrhachis cornihumera

3

return to couplet #2

  • Shoulders of pronotum form a pair of acute angles. Petiolar node with only a pair of laterodorsally pointed short lateral spines (Figs. 5-8) (China: Yunnan) . . . . . Polyrhachis dentihumera
  • Shoulders of pronotum form a pair of right angles . . . . . 4

4

return to couplet #3

  • Petiolar node with a pair of laterally pointed elongate lateral teeth, median teeth very blunt and indistinct (Figs. 9-10) (Cambodia) . . . . . Polyrhachis jurii
  • Petiolar node with a pair of subtriangular short lateral teeth, median teeth minute but distinct . . . . . 5

5

return to couplet #4

  • Body surface smooth and shiny. Legs red. TL 5.3 mm (Fig. 11) (Burma; India: Bangladesh: Thailand: Indonesia) . . . . . Polyrhachis laevissima

6

return to couplet #1

  • Propodeum armed with a pair of small denticles . . . . . 7

7

return to couplet #6

  • Median teeth of petiolar node with a combined elongate base (Fig. 12) (China: Guangdong: Vietnam) . . . . . Polyrhachis demangei
  • Median teeth of petiolar node without a combined elongate base . . . . . 8

8

return to couplet #7

  • Propodeal teeth short and minute. Legs red. TL 4.7 ~ 5.5 mm (Figs. 13-16) (China: Yunnan) . . . . . Polyrhachis cyphonota
  • Propodeal teeth elongate and slender. Legs blackish brown. TL 5.8-7.3 mm (Figs. 17-19) (China: Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan; New Guinea) . . . . . Polyrhachis debilis

9

return to couplet #6

  • Shoulders of pronotum roundly prominent. Legs blackish brown. TL 4.4 mm (Fig. 20) (Burma) . . . . . Polyrhachis burmanensis
  • Shoulders of pronotum rounded. Legs red or black. TL 4.8-6.2 mm . . . . . 10

10

return to couplet #9

11

return to couplet #10

  • Body surface smooth and shiny. Femora and tibiae blood- red. Petiolar node with 4 subequal teeth ( Figs. 21 - 25) ( China: Yunnan, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Taiwan and Hainan: Burma; Thailand: India: Sri Lanka: Indonesia: New Guinea; Australia) . . . . . Polyrhachis rastellata
  • Body surface densely, superficially and finely punctured, less shiny. Petiolar node with median teeth distinctly longer than lateral ones. Femora brownish red, tibiae blackish brown (Figs. 26 - 29) (China: Yunnan) . . . . . Polyrhachis orbihumera

12

return to couplet #10

  • Body surface smooth and shiny, with blackish-blue metallic luster (Figs. 30 - 33) ( China: Yunnan) . . . . . Polyrhachis rotoccipita
  • Body surface densely and finely punctured, dull, without metallic luster (Figs. 34-37) (China: Yunnan) . . . . . Polyrhachis brevicorpa