Tetramorium punctiventre

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Tetramorium punctiventre
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Tetramorium
Species: T. punctiventre
Binomial name
Tetramorium punctiventre
Emery, 1887

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Specimen Labels

Nothing is known about the biology of Tetramorium punctiventre.

Identification

A member of the Tetramorium scabrosum-species group.

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: New Guinea (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

Nomenclature

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

  • punctiventre. Tetramorium punctiventre Emery, 1887b: 453 (q.) NEW GUINEA. See also: Bolton, 1977: 118.

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

Bolton (1977) - I have not seen the holotype of this species, nor have I been able to find any material matching the original description. From that description it is not possible to decide whether punctiventre is correctly placed in Tetramorium or should go into Triglyphothrix, and Emery's comparison of this species with Triglyphothrix lanuginose (=Tetramorium lanuginosum) does little to settle the matter. For the present and with some misgivings I tentatively place punctiventre in the scabrosum-group, fully realizing that this may prove to be incorrect.

The principal characters of this enigmatic species are as follows. First gastral tergite basally punctate and with longitudinal rugulae. Propodeal spines long. Petiole node in dorsal view transversely ovate. Frontal carinae produced back beyond the level of the eyes, the antennal scrobes broad. Mandibles striate. Dominant sculpture on head and alitrunk a dense rugose-punctation.

In Tetramorium species of these regions gastral sculpture of the form described is very rare, but in Triglyphothrix gastral sculpture is reasonably common (Bolton, 1976), though of these species only the very conspicuous Tetramorium fulviceps is known to occur in New Guinea and this is certainly not equatable with punctiventre.

Type Material

Bolton (1977) - Holotype female, New Guinea: Hatam (Beccari) (probably in Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Bolton B. 1977. The ant tribe Tetramoriini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The genus Tetramorium Mayr in the Oriental and Indo-Australian regions, and in Australia. Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology 36:67-151.
  • Chapman, J. W., and Capco, S. R. 1951. Check list of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Asia. Monogr. Inst. Sci. Technol. Manila 1: 1-327
  • Emery C. 1887. Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine). [concl.]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 25(5): 427-473.
  • Emery, C. "Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine)." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 5, no. 25 (1887): 427-473.
  • Janda M., G. D. Alpert, M. L. Borowiec, E. P. Economo, P. Klimes, E. Sarnat, and S. O. Shattuck. 2011. Cheklist of ants described and recorded from New Guinea and associated islands. Available on http://www.newguineants.org/. Accessed on 24th Feb. 2011.
  • Viehmeyer H. 1912. Ameisen aus Deutsch Neuguinea gesammelt von Dr. O. Schlaginhaufen. Nebst einem Verzeichnisse der papuanischen Arten. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Königlichen Zoologischen und Anthropologische-Ethnographischen Museums zu Dresden 14: 1-26.