Trichomyrmex scabriceps

Trichomyrmex scabriceps
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Trichomyrmex
Species group:	scabriceps
Species:	T. scabriceps
Binomial name
Trichomyrmex scabriceps (Mayr, 1879) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Holcomyrmex scabriceps crinicipitoscabriceps Forel, 1902

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Trichomyrmex

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 32.628611° to 9.939625°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: India (type locality), Pakistan.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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.

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.

Biology

Association with Other Organisms

 Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• This species is a host for the cestode Raillietina tetragona (a parasitoid) (Quevillon, 2018) (encounter mode secondary; indirect transmission; transmission outside nest).

Nomenclature

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

• scabriceps. Holcomyrmex scabriceps Mayr, 1879: 672 (w.) INDIA (West Bengal).
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-locality: India: Calcutta (Rothney).
  • Type-depository: NHMW.
  • [Misspelled as scabiceps by Emery, 1922e: 181.]
  • Bingham, 1903: 283 (s.q.m.); Imai, et al. 1984: 7 (k.).
  • Combination in Monomorium (Holcomyrmex): Emery, 1922e: 182;
  • combination in Trichomyrmex: Ward, et al. 2015: 76.
  • Status as species: Forel, 1885b: 178; Dalla Torre, 1893: 65; Forel, 1903a: 692; Rothney, 1903: 97; Bingham, 1903: 282; Emery, 1922e: 182; Donisthorpe, 1942d: 455; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 163; Ettershank, 1966: 92; Bolton, 1995b: 266; Radchenko, 1997f: 221; Tiwari, 1999: 56; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 47; Rasheed, et al. 2019: 434.
  • Senior synonym of crinicipitoscabriceps: Radchenko, 1997f: 221.
  • Distribution: India, Pakistan.
• crinicipitoscabriceps. Holcomyrmex scabriceps var. crinicipitoscabriceps Forel, 1902c: 220 (w.) INDIA (Karnataka, West Bengal).
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-localities: India: Mysore (Rothney), Pooree (Walsh), Calcutta (no collector’s name).
  • Type-depository: MHNG.
  • Combination in Monomorium (Holcomyrmex): Emery, 1922e: 182.
  • Subspecies of scabriceps: Forel, 1903a: 693; Bingham, 1903: 283; Emery, 1922e: 182; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 163; Bolton, 1995b: 260.
  • Status as species: Ettershank, 1966: 88; Tiwari, 1999: 56 (error).
  • Junior synonym of scabriceps: Radchenko, 1997f: 221.

Description

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description (Bingham, 1903) page 282 as Holcomyrmex scabriceps.

Worker

Major

Head, thorax and pedicel reddish ferruginous; the antennae, legs and posterior node infuscate, the abdomen dark brown; head very closely and finely longitudinally striate; thorax and the nodes of the pedicel rather more coarsely transversely rugose-striate; abdomen smooth. Pilosity very sparse, soft and somewhat long on the scape of the antennae and on the tibiae of the legs, adjacent and oblique. Head rectangular, longer than broad, the sides straight, the posterior lateral angles rounded; mandibles with a few coarse striae at base; head posteriorly slightly emarginate and with a medial impressed line from the middle of the emargination to below the vertex. Thorax: the pro-mesonotum narrower than the head, rounded anteriorly and above; the basal portion of the metanotum nearly as long as the pro-mesonotum, the apex above medially subsulcate with the lateral angles more or less carinate, the posterior face of the metanotum obliquely truncate; legs slender, moderately long. Pedicel and abdomen as in the genus.

Minor

Closely resembles the major, but is of course very much smaller ; proportionately to the large pro-mesonotum, the basal portion of the metanotum is shorter than in the major. The colour varies, some specimens have the head fuscous.

Length: 3.5 - 7 mm

Queen

Head deep red ; thorax, pedicel and abdomen more or less dark brown or black, in places with reddish tinge. Head finely, densely punctate granulate; thorax and abdomen smooth and shining, some vague transverse striae on the metanotum posteriorly, and the nodes of the pedicel opaque, granulate ; wings light flavo-hyaline. For the rest the characters of the genus.

Length: 12 mm

Male

Head and abdomen black ; thorax and pedicel chestnut- brown, with the borders of the articulations yellowish ; antennae pale yellow ; legs brown, tibiae and tarsi dull yellow. Head opaque, rugulose ; thorax entirely, pedicel and abdomen smooth and shining. For the rest the characters of the genus.

Length: 7 mm

Karyotype

• 2n = 38 (India) (Imai et al., 1984).

References

• Bingham, C. T. 1903. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera, Vol. II. Ants and Cuckoo-wasps. London: Taylor and Francis, 506 pp. (page 283, soldier, queen, male described)
• Ghosh, S.N. & Sheela, S. 2008. On a collection of Formicidae (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) from Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India, with new records of one rare genus and a rare species. Asian Myrmecology, 2, 99-102.
• Imai, H. T.; Baroni Urbani, C.; Kubota, M.; Sharma, G. P.; Narasimhanna, M. H.; Das, B. C.; 1984. Karyological survey of Indian ants. Jpn. J. Genet. 59: 1-32 (page 7, karyotype described)
• Khudadad, S., Rafi, M.A., Zia, A., Khan, M.S., Parveen, G., Sheikh, M.K., Naz, F., Qasim, M., Shah, S.W. 2021. Ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of District Mansehra, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Research 34: 664-671 (doi:10.17582/journal.pjar/2021/34.3.664.671).
• Mayr, G. 1879. Beiträge zur Ameisen-Fauna Asiens. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 28: 645-686 (page 672, worker described)
• Nalini, T., Jayanthi, R. 2020. First record on interaction between ants, other insect visitors and extrafioral nectaries (EFNS) in selected crops from India. Plant Archives 20, 2105-2113.
• Radchenko, A. G. 1997g. Review of the ants of scabriceps group of the genus Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Ann. Zool. (Warsaw) 46: 211-224 (page 221, Senior synonym of crinicipitoscabriceps)
• Rasheed, M.T., Bodlah, I., Fareen, A.G., Wachkoo, A.A., Huang, X., Akbar, S.A. 2019. A checklist of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Pakistan. Sociobiology 66(3), 426-439 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v66i3.4330).
• Ward, P.S., Brady, S.G., Fisher, B.L., Schultz, T.R. 2015. The evolution of myrmicine ants: phylogeny and biogeography of a hyperdiverse ant clade (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 40: 61–81 (doi:10.1111/syen.12090).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Bharti H., Y. P. Sharma, M. Bharti, and M. Pfeiffer. 2013. Ant species richness, endemicity and functional groups, along an elevational gradient in the Himalayas. Asian Myrmecology 5: 79-101.
• 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
• Dad J. M., S. A. Akbar, H. Bharti, and A. A. Wachkoo. 2019. Community structure and ant species diversity across select sites ofWestern Ghats, India. Acta Ecologica Sinica 39: 219–228.
• Donisthorpe H. 1942. Ants from the Colombo Museum Expedition to Southern India, September-October 1938. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (11)9: 449-461.
• Forel A. 1885. Indian ants of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. J. Asiat. Soc. Bengal Part II Nat. Sci. 54: 176-182.
• Forel A. 1885. Indian ants of the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. Part II. Natural Science 54: 176-182.
• Forel A. 1902. Myrmicinae nouveaux de l'Inde et de Ceylan. Rev. Suisse Zool. 10: 165-249.
• Forel A. 1903. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part X. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 14: 679-715.
• Ghosh S. N., and S. Sheela. 2008. On a collection of Formicidae (Hymenoptera: Vespoidea) from Buxa Tiger Reserve, West Bengal, India, with new records of one rare genus and a rare species. Asian Myrmecology 2: 99-102.
• Imai H. T., C. Baroni Urbani, M. Kubota, G. P. Sharma, M. H. Narasimhanna, B. C. Das, A. K. Sharma, A. Sharma, G. B. Deodikar, V. G. Vaidya, and M. R. Rajasekarasetty. 1984. Karyological survey of Indian ants. Japanese Journal of Genetics 59: 1-32.
• Musthak Ali T. M. 1982. Ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bangalore with observations on their nesting and foraging habits. Thesis Abstracts. Haryana Agricultural University 8: 370-371.
• Narendra A., H. Gibb, and T. M. Ali. 2011. Structure of ant assemblages in Western Ghats, India: role of habitat, disturbance and introduced species. Insect Conservation and diversity 4(2): 132-141.
• Pajni H. R., and R. K. Suri. 1978. First report on the Formicid fauna (Hymenoptera) of Chandigarh. Res. Bull. (Science) Punjab University 29: 5-12.
• Radchenko A. G. 1997. Review of the ants of scabriceps group of the genus Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 46: 211-224.
• Rajan P. D., M. Zacharias, and T. M. Mustak Ali. 2006. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Fauna of Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Wildlife Sanctuary (Karnataka). Conservation Area Series, Zool. Surv. India.i-iv,27: 153-188.
• Rasheed M. T., I. Bodlah, A. G. Fareen, A. A. Wachkoo, X. Huang, and S. A. Akbar. 2019. A checklist of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Pakistan. Sociobiology 66(3): 426-439.
• Sheela S. 2008. Handbook of Hymenoptera, Formicidae. Zoological Survey of India, 56 pages
• Sonune B. V., and R. J. Chavan. 2016. Distribution and diversity of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) around Gautala Autramghat Sanctuary, Aurangabad Maharashtra, India. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 4(2): 361-364.
• Tak N. 2009. Ants Formicidae of Rajasthan. Records of the Zoological Survey of India, Occasional Paper No. 288, iv, 46 p
• Tak N. 2009. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Faunal Resources of Tal Chhapar Wildlife sanctuary. Conservation Area Series 38: 23-28.
• Tak N., and N. S. Rathore. 1996. Ant (Formicidae) fauna of the Thar Desert. Pp. 271-276 in: Ghosh, A. K.; Baqri, Q. H.; Prakash, I. (eds.) 1996. Faunal diversity in the Thar Desert: gaps in research. Jodhpur: Scientific Publishers, xi + 410 pp.
• Tak N., and N. S. Rathore. 2004. Insecta: Hymenoptera. Rathore, N.S. Fauna of Desert National Park Rajasthan (proposed biosphere reserve). Conservation Area Series 19,Zool. Surv. India. 1-135. Chapter pagination: 81-84.
• Tak N., and N. S. Rathore. 2004. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. State Fauna Series 8: Fauna of Gujarat. Zool. Surv. India. Pp. 161-183.
• Tak, N. 2009. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Thar Desert of Rajasthan and Gujarat. in C. Sivaperuman et al. (eds.), Faunal Ecology and Conservation of the Great Indian Desert
• Tiwari R. N. 1999. Taxonomic studies on ants of southern India (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Memoirs of the Zoological Survey of India 18(4): 1-96.
• Umair M., A. Zia, M. Naeem, and M. T. Chaudhry. 2012. Species composition of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Potohar Plateau of Punjab Province, Pakistan. Pakistan Journal of Zoology 44(3): 669-705.