Meranoplus duyfkeni

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Meranoplus duyfkeni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Meranoplus
Species: M. duyfkeni
Binomial name
Meranoplus duyfkeni
Forel, 1915

Meranoplus duyfkeni casent0908938 p 1 high.jpg

Meranoplus duyfkeni casent0908938 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Restricted to north-western Australia.

Identification

Schödl (2007) - This medium sized species is readily separated from others by the unique translucently flanged promesonotal shield with projections on mesonotal hind margin directed posteriorly.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -21.3413° to -23.3653°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

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.

  • duyfkeni. Meranoplus diversus r. duyfkeni Forel, 1915b: 45 (w.q.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
    • Type-material: lectotype worker (by designation of Schödl, 2007: 397), 14 paralectotype workers, 1 paralectotype queen.
    • Type-locality: lectotype Australia: NW Australia, Kimberley Dist. (E. Mjöberg); paralectotypes with same data.
    • Type-depositories: NHRS (lectotype); ANIC, MCZC, MHNG, NHMB, NHRS (paralectotypes).
    • Subspecies of diversus: Emery, 1924d: 229; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 67; Taylor, 1987a: 38.
    • Status as species: Taylor, 1990c: 34; Bolton, 1995b: 251; Schödl, 2007: 397 (redescription).
    • Distribution: Australia.

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

Description

Worker

Schödl (2007) - (n = 8). TL 6.15-7.15, HL 1.50-1.75, HW 1.75-2.05, FC 1.30-1.48, CS 1.63-1.89, SL 0.90-1.03, SI1 50-52, SI2 53-56, PML 1.05-1.20, PW 1.32-1.53, PMD 1.35-1.60, PMI2 100-105, ML 1.45-1.65, PTLL 0.36-0.45, PTLH 0.58-0.70, PTDW 0.49-0.63, PPLL 0.38-0.45, PPLH 0.51-0.70, PPI 60-78, PPDW 0.46-0.58, PT/PP 95-109.

Mandible with four teeth. Clypeus in full face view bluntly bidentate, additionally carinulate, dents not or only weakly surpassing anterolateral corners of frontal carinae. Head wider than long (CI 113-119) with the preoccipital corners evenly rounded and the rear margin concave. Frontal carinae posteriorly narrow, anteriorly broadly and translucently narrowing towards clypeus, distinctly narrower than head width (FI 131-139). Antennal scrobe in lateral view surpassing middle of length of head posteriorly, finely carinulate in whole length, with additional distinct microreticulum, posteriorly rather well defined from remainder of head. Genae below scrobal margin evenly carinulate to carinate, ventrolateral sides of head carinate to rugose, preoccipital lobes reticulate. Compound eyes moderate in size (EL 0.29-0.34, REL 0.19-0.20, with 17-18 ommatidia in the longest row) in lateral view situated slightly in front of middle of lateral sides of the head, dorsal ocular margin well separated from ventral scrobal margin.

Promesonotum trapezoid, wider than long (PMI 120-129), narrowly translucently margined, concealing lateral sides of mesosoma, propodeal declivity visible from above. Propodeal spines of medium length (PSL 0.50-0.63) situated above middle of length of declivity, acute and straight and distinctly diverging in dorsal view.

Petiole distinctly higher than long (PTI 59-70), in profile triangular with anterior face straight and unsculptured, the posterior face convex to angulately rounded, rugose. Postpetiole nodiform, with large ventral tooth.

First gastral tergite entirely microreticulate, with occasional interspersed glossy spots, basally an indistinct fine striation may be apparent. Dorsum of head costulate to rugose with more or less developed microsculpture, frontal margins irregularly sculptured, with pilosity consisting of decumbent arcuate short and scattered outstanding long hairs. Promesonotal shield coarsely irregularly rugose to rugoreticulate.

Concolorous brown to fuscous.

Type Material

Schödl (2007) - (Kimberley District, Western Australia; worker, gyne) Lectotype worker (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève, here designated), “Typus [printed on red label]\ Meranoplus diversus Sm. r. Duyfkeni For. Type [handwritten] \ Australien Mjöberg No 33 [handwritten] \ Coll. A. Forel [printed]”. Fifteen paralectotypes (workers, 1 gyne in MHNG, Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, Australian National Insect Collection, Museum of Comparative Zoology and Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet. Remarks: Out of 14 topotypical workers and two gynes, housed in NHRS, only one worker and one gyne are labeled as types. Since it is subsequently impossible to state which of the specimens Forel had before him, only the two specimens labeled as types are here considered to belong to the original syntype series.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.