Strumigenys erynnes

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Strumigenys erynnes
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Attini
Genus: Strumigenys
Species: S. erynnes
Binomial name
Strumigenys erynnes
(Bolton, 2000)

Pyramica erynnes casent0005448 profile 1.jpg

Pyramica erynnes casent0005448 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

A well collected Strumigenys species that is known from a range of forest habitats. This species has been found in litter, soil, under stones and in dead wood.

Identification

Bolton (2000) - A member of the Strumigenys mutica-group. The only other species of this group known from Madagascar, Strumigenys tathula, is easily separated as its propodeum is armed with a pair of triangular teeth. By comparison with non-Malagasy members of the mutica-group erynnes is isolated by its evenly slender cylindrical scapes that are also relatively long, SI 82-88 compared to a combined SI 63-76 in the extralimital species.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -13.962° to -22.21666667°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Malagasy Region: Madagascar (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

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Pyramica erynnes casent0005449 head 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0005449 profile 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0005449 dorsal 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0005449 label 1.jpg
Paratype of Strumigenys erynnesWorker. Specimen code casent0005449. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Pyramica erynnes casent0005450 head 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0005450 profile 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0005450 dorsal 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0005450 label 1.jpg
Paratype of Strumigenys erynnesWorker. Specimen code casent0005450. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Pyramica erynnes casent0006000 head 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0006000 profile 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0006000 dorsal 1.jpgPyramica erynnes casent0006000 label 1.jpg
Holotype of Pyramica erynnesWorker. Specimen code casent0006000. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

  • erynnes. Pyramica erynnes Bolton, 2000: 351, figs. 224, 244 (w.) MADAGASCAR. Combination in Strumigenys: Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2007: 119

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 2.1, HL 0.56, HW 0.44, CI 79, ML 0.16, MI 29, SL 0.37, SI 84, PW 0.30, AL 0.56. With head in full-face view the subovate mandibular gap between basal lamellae and basal teeth distinct, the apices of the labral lobes visible through the gap. Antennal scapes elongate and slender; spatulate hairs that curve toward the scape apex conspicuous. Eyes visible in full-face view, located well behind the midlength of the side of the head; eye with 3 ommatidia across the greatest diameter. Dorsum and lateral margins of head with narrowly spatulate ground-pilosity that is decumbent to appressed; without standing hairs except for a single pair of thick, anteriorly curved remiform hairs that arise just behind the highest point of the vertex. Dorsum and sides of head, including the scrobes, finely reticulate to reticulate-punctulate. Pronotal sides, entire dorsal alitrunk and propodeal declivity finely reticulate to reticulate-punctulate, superficially so on the more central area of the pronotum. Promesonotum in dorsal view broadest at about its midlength, broadly convex from side to side and from front to back. Metanotal groove conspicuously impressed. Nodes of both petiole and postpetiole broader than long, the latter somewhat wider than the former. In dorsal view sides of petiole and postpetiole without projecting spongiform tissue though the posterior collars are narrowly present. Dorsal alitrunk with scattered appressed narrowly spatulate ground-pilosity, the mesonotum with a single pair of stout remiform hairs; alitrunk otherwise without specialised hairs. Propodeal declivity with a narrow lamella, without teeth. Ventral spongiform strip of petiole present but narrow and inconspicuous. Lateral and ventral postpetiole lobes small, in profile their combined area smaller than the exposed portion of the postpetiole disc. Petiole and postpetiole each with one pair of remiform standing hairs. First gastral tergite with two pairs of stout remiform hairs, one pair located basally and the other apically. Between them the sclerite with scattered finer decumbent narrow pilosity.

Paratypes. TL 2.0-2.2, HL 0.54-0.58, HW 0.42-0.44, CI 75-80, ML 0.14-0.16, MI 26-29, SL 0.36-0.39, SI 82-88, PW 0.29-0.33, AL 0.54-0.58 (10 measured). As holotype but occasionally with one or two slender hairs on the leading edge of the scape curved toward the base of the scape. This is abnormal and may be an artifact of the mounting process, the hairs being displaced when the scapes were being spread for examination. The stout remiform hairs on the alitrunk and waist segments may be abraded away, so that some specimens do not show the full count outlined above.

Type Material

Holotype worker, Madagascar: 45 km. S Ambalavao, 22°13'S, 47°01'E, 785 m., 25.ix.1993, sifted litter (leaf mold, rotten wood), rainforest, #696 (48)-5 (B.L. Fisher) (Museum of Comparative Zoology).

Paratypes. 32 workers with same data as holotype [in addition a large number of workers from this series remain in alcohol at UCD] (MCZ, University of California, Davis, The Natural History Museum).

References

  • Baroni Urbani, C. & De Andrade, M.L. 2007. The ant tribe Dacetini: limits and constituent genera, with descriptions of new species. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale “G. Doria”. 99:1-191.
  • Bolton, B. 2000. The ant tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute. 65:1-1028. (page 351, worker described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Bolton, B. 2000. The Ant Tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65
  • Fisher B. L. 2003. Formicidae, ants. Pp. 811-819 in: Goodman, S. M.; Benstead, J. P. (eds.) 2003. The natural history of Madagascar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, xxi + 1709 pp.