Poneracantha

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Poneracantha
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ectatomminae
Tribe: Ectatommini
Genus: Poneracantha
Emery, 1897
Type species
Ectatomma (Holcoponera) bispinosum, now Poneracantha bispinosa

Gnamptogenys bispinosa P casent0217483.jpg

Gnamptogenys bispinosa D casent0217483.jpg

Specimen Label

Synonyms

Identification

AntWeb icon 02.png See images of species within this genus

Keys including this Genus

 

Keys to Species in this Genus

Distribution

Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps

Species by Region

Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.

Afrotropical Region Australasian Region Indo-Australian Region Malagasy Region Nearctic Region Neotropical Region Oriental Region Palaearctic Region
Species 0 0 0 0 1 18 0 0
Total Species 2840 1735 3042 932 835 4378 1740 2862

Biology

Brown's (1993) account of predation and feeding for the species Poneracantha ingeborgae provides insight into how some of the species in this genus specialize on millipede prey.

  • Brown (1993), Figures 5-7.

Castes

Morphology

Phylogeny

Ectatomminae
Heteroponerini

Bazboltonia  (1 species, 0 fossil species)

Acanthoponera  (4 species, 0 fossil species)

Heteroponera  (27 species, 0 fossil species)

Ectatommini

Ectatomma  (15 species, 1 fossil species)

Rhytidoponera  (104 species, 3 fossil species)

Stictoponera  (43 species, 0 fossil species)

Gnamptogenys  (32 species, 5 fossil species)

Typhlomyrmex  (11 species, 0 fossil species)

Poneracantha  (18 species, 1 fossil species)

Alfaria  (9 species, 0 fossil species)

Holcoponera  (40 species, 0 fossil species)

See Phylogeny of Ectatomminae for details.

Nomenclature

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

  • PONERACANTHA [Ectatomminae: Ectatommini]
    • Poneracantha Emery, 1897d: 547 [as subgenus of Ectatomma]. Type-species: Ectatomma (Holcoponera) bispinosum Emery, 1890b: 40, by original designation.

Taxonomic history

  • Poneracantha as subgenus of Ectatomma: Emery, 1911d: 43; Forel, 1917: 236; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 643; Donisthorpe, 1943f: 685.
  • Poneracantha as junior synonym of Gnamptogenys: Brown, 1958g: 211; Kempf, 1972a: 111; Smith, D.R. 1979: 1337; Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 10; Bolton, 1995b: 43; Bolton, 2003: 174.
  • Poneracantha as genus: Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
  • Poneracantha as senior synonym of Barbourella: Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
  • Poneracantha as senior synonym of Parectatomma: Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
  • Poneracantha references: Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11 (diagnosis).
  • [For references pre-2022 see under Gnamptogenys.]

References