Turneria frenchi

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Turneria frenchi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Tribe: Leptomyrmecini
Genus: Turneria
Species: T. frenchi
Binomial name
Turneria frenchi
Forel, 1911

The identity of this species is currently uncertain. It was originally described in the genus Turneria by Forel (1911), transferred to Stigmacros by Shattuck (1990) and then back to Turneria by Taylor (1992). Type material is apparently lost and until it is found or replaced the status of this taxon is unlikely to be resolved.

Identification

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (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.

  • frenchi. Turneria frenchi Forel, 1911b: 207 (footnote) (w.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in Stigmacros: Shattuck, 1990: 105; in Turneria: Taylor, 1992a: 67.

Type Material

  • Syntype, worker, Australia.

Description

Based on the original description, T. frenchi possesses the following characters: eyes convex and placed laterally on head, antennae exceeding occipital border, mesosoma margined laterally, promesonotal suture and metanotal groove deeply impressed, declivitous face of propodeum with dentiform processes basally, scale notched dorsally, and the integument smooth and shiny.

The identity of Turneria frenchi Forel (1911:207, worker from an unspecified locality in Australia) is problematic. Type material could not be located by Shattuck (1990) and is apparently lost. It is not present in the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (P. Dessart, pers. comm.), which is the "Musée de Bruxelles" mentioned as the type depository in the original description. Shattuck (1990) could not find any specimens that agreed with the original description of this species but did find a single worker specimen identified by W. C. Crawley as T. frenchi, housed in Oxford University Museum of Natural History. This specimen is an apparently undescribed species of Stigmacros (Campostigmacros), suggesting that Forel's specimen may well have been a Stigmacros as well.

However, Taylor (1992) found these arguments too speculative and moved this species back to Turneria. This is its currently placement.

References