Phrynoponera pulchella

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Phrynoponera pulchella
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Genus: Phrynoponera
Species: P. pulchella
Binomial name
Phrynoponera pulchella
Bolton & Fisher, 2008

Phrynoponera pulchella casent0178203 profile 1.jpg

Phrynoponera pulchella casent0178203 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

Nothing is known about the biology of Phrynoponera pulchella.

Identification

This large species is immediately identified by its unmodified clypeus, characteristic gastral sculpture, short stout petiolar spines and dense propodeal and gastral pubescence. It also retains traces of a stridulitrum, absent from all other known species.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Kenya, Tanzania.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -3.91667° to -9.62713°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Kenya (type locality), United Republic of Tanzania.

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

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Phrynoponera pulchella casent0178204 head 1.jpgPhrynoponera pulchella casent0178204 profile 1.jpgPhrynoponera pulchella casent0178204 profile 2.jpgPhrynoponera pulchella casent0178204 dorsal 1.jpgPhrynoponera pulchella casent0178204 dorsal 2.jpgPhrynoponera pulchella casent0178204 label 1.jpg
Paratype of Phrynoponera pulchellaWorker. Specimen code casent0178204. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • pulchella. Phrynoponera pulchella Bolton & Fisher, 2008b: 47, figs. 5a-d (w.) KENYA.

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

Description

Worker

Holotype. TL 11.1, HL 2.48, HW 2.56, CI 103, SL 2.04, SI 80, PW 2.04, WL 3.76, maximum diameter of eye 0.56, OI 22.

Mandible smooth with scattered setal pits, with 5 teeth, the basal tooth no more than a broad angle. Median portion of anterior clypeal margin with a small and extremely shallow median indentation which rounds broadly and evenly into the clypeal margin on each side; without a prominent tooth on each side of the midline. Dorsum of head near midline very finely and very densely rugulose, the narrow rugulae predominantly longitudinal but with some fine anastomoses; spaces between rugulae extremely finely reticulate-punctate to shagreenate. More laterally on cephalic dorsum, and behind the eyes, the reticulae are wider though no more strongly defined. Dorsum of mesosoma coarsely, irregularly reticulate-rugose, spaces between reticulae shagreenate. Metanotal groove in dorsal view visible laterally but obliterated towards central area of dorsum. Median strip of propodeal dorsum with pubescence that is much more dense than anywhere else on dorsum of mesosoma. Propodeal teeth in dorsal view short, broad at base and blunt apically. Petiole broad, width at base of spines ca. 2.00, surmounted by 5 spines that are all short and stout. Outer pair of petiolar spines the longest, broadly triangular and weakly divergent. Median spine only slightly longer than the flanking pair. Gastral tergites 1–3 shagreenate to extremely finely and densely reticulate-punctate, with scattered larger setal pits; tergites also densely clothed with subappressed to appressed pubescence. Setae on first gastral tergite suberect to subdecumbent, short, maximum length ca. 0.22.

Paratypes. TL 11.5-12.0, HL 2.40-2.48, HW 2.40-2.62, CI 100-106, SL 1.92-2.04, SI 78-80, PW 1.88-1.96, WL 3.44-3.68, maximum diameter of eye 0.56-0.58, OI 22-23 (3 measured). As holotype but mandible with 3–5 teeth. In one specimen the left mandible has 5 teeth, the right mandible 3.

Type Material

Holotype worker. Kenya: Kora Res., Tana River, 22.vii.1983, 0-100 m., no. 5c, Acacia-Commiphora scrub (N.M. Collins & M. Ritchie) (The Natural History Museum). Paratypes: 9 workers (2 dissected, on same pin), with the same data (BMNH, California Academy of Sciences).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Bolton B., and B. L. Fisher. 2008. The Afrotropical ponerine ant genus Phrynoponera Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1892: 35-52.
  • Bolton, B. and B.L. Fisher. 2008. Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera Centromyrmex Mayr, Promyopias Santschi gen. rev. and Feroponera gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1929:1-37.
  • Garcia F.H., Wiesel E. and Fischer G. 2013.The Ants of Kenya (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)—Faunal Overview, First Species Checklist, Bibliography, Accounts for All Genera, and Discussion on Taxonomy and Zoogeography. Journal of East African Natural History, 101(2): 127-222
  • IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection