Axinidris kakamegensis

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Axinidris kakamegensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Genus: Axinidris
Species: A. kakamegensis
Binomial name
Axinidris kakamegensis
Shattuck, 1991

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Specimen Labels

Known only from the worker type specimen from an unspecified locality in the Kakamega Forest.

Identification

Scape and pronotum without erect hairs; head broader than long and vertex without erect hairs; distance between spines greater than PPW.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -0.317° to -0.317°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Kenya (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

Species of Axinidris appear to nest exclusively within hollow plant stems, both living and dead, and in rotten wood. They are found in forested areas throughout the Afrotropical region, but are most abundant and diverse in the moist equatorial forests. Workers are primarily arboreal foragers, but may occasionally forage in ground litter.

Castes

Known only from the worker caste.

Nomenclature

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

  • kakamegensis. Axinidris kakamegensis Shattuck, 1991: 115, figs. 17-19, 35 (w.) KENYA.
    • Status as species: Shattuck, 1994: 9; Bolton, 1995b: 77; Snelling, R.R. 2007: 563; Hita Garcia, et al. 2013: 202.

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

Description

Worker

Worker measurements (n=l). OOD 0.34, EL 0.24, HL 0.96, EW 0.13, HW 0.97, CNW 0.05, CND 0.09, SL 0.69, AL 1.10, PpW 0040, SW 0.38, CI 1.02, CNI 1.61, REL 0.24, ScI 0.71, SpIIA6. Head very broad (HW >0.95, CI <1.00); area between propodeal spines concave; gastric dorsum without erect hairs; body colour black.

Head finely punctate and superimposed with fine strigulate sculpturing; area near the mandibular insertion with a narrow area of strigulate SCUlpturing. Head with a few erect hairs between the frontal lobes and on the clypeus. Erect and suberect hairs absent from antennal scapes. Pronotum weakly imbricate dorsally, nearly smooth laterally and lacking erect hairs. Mesonotum and propodeum finely and closely punctate. Propodeal spiracles similar to tridens. Medial propodeal carina expanded posteriorly and limited to the basal face of the propodeum. Propodeal spines projecting postero-Iaterally, with the outer surfaces concave, the distal ends approximately the same width as the maximum propodeal width, and the area between them concqve. Erect hairs absent from gastric tergites. Body colour black; anterior and venter of head, legs and clypeus reddish black; mandibles reddish black posteriorly, yellowish red distally; tarsi dark yellowish red.

Type Material

Type material. Holotype worker from KENYA: Kakamega Forest (A. E. Stubbs) (The Natural History Museum).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Hita Garcia F., E. Wiesel, G. Fischer. 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: 127-222.
  • Shattuck S. O. 1991. Revision of the dolichoderine ant genus Axinidris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 16: 105-120.
  • Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.
  • Snelling, R. R. 2007. A review of the arboreal Afrotropical ant genus Axinidris, pp. 551-579. In Snelling, R. R., B. L. Fisher, and P. S. Ward (eds). Advances in ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): homage to E. O. Wilson – 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 80.