Prionopelta

Prionopelta
Prionopelta punctulata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Amblyoponinae
Tribe:	Amblyoponini
Genus:	Prionopelta Mayr, 1866
Type species
Prionopelta punctulata
Diversity
25 species (Species Checklist, Species by Country) Prionopelta punctulata Specimen Label
Synonyms
Concoctio Brown, 1974 Examblyopone Donisthorpe, 1949 Renea Donisthorpe, 1947

Specimens of Prionopelta are uncommonly encountered. Nests are in soil under objects, under bark or in rotten wood. Workers are rarely seen above ground and they apparently forage primarily in leaf litter or in other cryptic situations.

Identification

Mandibles long and slender and usually with 3 teeth (although sometimes with a few very small denticles as well) that are grouped together near the tip on a face separate from the rest of the mandible. The petiole has distinct front and upper faces but lacks a rear face, and its attachment to the gaster is broad and approximately the same height as the petiole so that the upper surfaces of petiole and gaster are separated by at most a shallow impression. Overall length small, less than about 2mm in total length. These small ants can be recognised by the shape of the mandibles and petiole.

These are small and yellowish ants, and in the field could be mistaken for Solenopsis of the subgenus Diplorhoptrum, which are common in the habitats where Prionopelta occur. Prionopelta walk with a slightly undulating or wriggling movement, and this helps distinguish them from Solenopsis of similar size.

Keys including this Genus

• Key to Australian Amblyoponinae Genera
• Key to Neotropical Amblyoponinae genera
• Key to North American Genera of Amblyoponinae
• Key to Vietnamese Amblyoponinae Genera

 

Keys to Species in this Genus

• Key to Indo-Pacific Prionopelta Species
• Key to Prionopelta of the Malagasy region

Afrotropical species

Images of Afrotropical species

Distribution

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	5	2	5	7	1	9	1	1
Total Species	2841	1736	3045	932	835	4379	1741	2862

Fossils

Fossils are known from: Zhangpu amber, Zhangpu County, Fujian Province, China (Miocene) (an unidentified species, Wang et al., 2021).

Biology

Prionopelta humicola, Kibale forest, Uganda. Image © Alex Wild.

Colonies occur in soil, and the ants show characteristics of subterranean life, including small size, pale color, and elongate mandibles (Brown 1960). The first detailed natural history work on Prionopelta is Holldobler and Wilson's study (1986) of Prionopelta amabilis, summarized here. Colonies, which may be either mono- or polydomus, occur in rotten wood on the ground in forested areas. In a feeding preference test involving many groups of soil arthropods, the ants stung and killed most of the arthropods provided, but consumed only a few species. Prionopelta amabilis definitely prefers campodeids, although a small centipede and two beetle pupae were also eaten. Workers produce trophic eggs that are presented to the queen. There is a rudimentary division of labor in attendance on the queen, apparently based on the age of maximum production of trophic eggs. Trophallaxis and adult transport are apparently absent. Workers use fragments of old pupal cocoons to "wallpaper" galleries containing pupae, probably to reduce moisture in these galleries. Workers show a "foot-dragging" behavior, and in a later paper (1992) Holldobler et al. showed that a previously unknown gland in the hind basitarsus disperses a trail pheromone.

Life History Traits

• Mean colony size: 20-298 (Greer et al., 2021)
• Compound colony type: not parasitic (Greer et al., 2021)
• Nest site: hypogaeic (Greer et al., 2021)
• Diet class: predator (Greer et al., 2021)
• Foraging stratum: subterranean/leaf litter (Greer et al., 2021)
• Foraging behaviour: cooperative (Greer et al., 2021)

Castes

Prionopelta humicola, Kibale forest, Uganda. Image © Alex Wild.

Morphology

Worker Morphology

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

• Antennal segment count: 8; 9; 10; 11; 12 • Antennal club: 3-4 • Palp formula: 2,2 • Spur formula: 1 pectinate, 1 pectinate; 1 simple, 1 pectinate; 0, 1 pectinate • Eyes: 0-1 ommatidia • Pronotal Spines: absent • Mesonotal Spines: absent • Propodeal Spines: absent • Petiolar Spines: absent • Caste: none or weak • Sting: present • Metaplural Gland: present • Cocoon: present

Male Morphology

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

 • Antennal segment count 13 • Antennal club 0 • Palp formula 2,2 • Total dental count 1-2 • Spur formula 1 simple-barbulate , 1 pectinate

Phylogeny

Amblyoponinae

Apomyrma  (1 species, 0 fossil species) Prionopelta  (25 species, 0 fossil species) Amblyopone  (10 species, 0 fossil species) Onychomyrmex  (4 species, 0 fossil species) Fulakora  (25 species, 0 fossil species) Adetomyrma  (9 species, 0 fossil species), some Stigmatomma Myopopone  (1 species, 1 fossil species), some Stigmatomma some Stigmatomma Xymmer  (2 species, 0 fossil species) Mystrium  (14 species, 0 fossil species) some Stigmatomma

See Phylogeny of Amblyoponinae for details.

Nomenclature

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

• PRIONOPELTA [Amblyoponinae]
  • Prionopelta Mayr, 1866a: 503. Type-species: Prionopelta punctulata, by monotypy.
  • Prionopelta senior synonym of Examblyopone: Brown, 1951: 102.
  • Prionopelta senior synonym of Renea: Brown, 1953c: 11.
• CONCOCTIO [junior synonym of Prionopelta]
  • Concoctio Brown, 1974d: 29. Type-species: Concoctio concenta, by original designation.
  • Concoctio junior synonym of Prionopelta: Ward & Fisher, 2016: 691.
• EXAMBLYOPONE [junior synonym of Prionopelta]
  • Examblyopone Donisthorpe, 1949g: 401. Type-species: Examblyopone churchilli (junior synonym of Prionopelta majuscula), by original designation.
  • Examblyopone junior synonym of Prionopelta: Brown, 1951: 102.
• RENEA [junior synonym of Prionopelta]
  • Renea Donisthorpe, 1947d: 183. Type-species: Renea testacea (junior synonym of Prionopelta majuscula), by original designation.
  • Renea junior synonym of Prionopelta: Brown, 1953c: 11.

References

• Brown, W.L., Jr. 1951. New synonymy of a few genera and species of ants. Bulletin of the Brooklyn Entomological Society 46: 101-106 (doi:10.5281/zenodo.24586). (page 102, Prionopelta senior synonym of Examblyopone)
• Ashmead, W. H. 1905c. A skeleton of a new arrangement of the families, subfamilies, tribes and genera of the ants, or the superfamily Formicoidea. Can. Entomol. 37: 381-384 (page 382, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Proceratiini)
• Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and Classification of Formicidae. Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. 71: 370pp (page 156, Prionopelta in Amblyoponinae, Amblyoponini)
• Boudinot, B.E. 2019. Hormigas de Colombia. Cap. 15. Clave para las subfamilias y generos basada en machos. Pp. 487-499 in: Fernández, F., Guerrero, R.J., Delsinne, T. (eds.) 2019d. Hormigas de Colombia. Bogotá: Universidad Nacional de Colombia, 1198 pp.
• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1953c. Characters and synonymies among the genera of ants. Part I. Breviora 11: 1-13 (page 11, Prionopelta senior synonym of Renea, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Amblyoponini)
• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1960a. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. III. Tribe Amblyoponini (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 122: 143-230 (page 173, Revision of genus, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Amblyoponini)
• Burchill, A.T., Moreau, C.S. 2016. Colony size evolution in ants: macroevolutionary trends. Insectes Sociaux 63, 291–298 (doi:10.1007/s00040-016-0465-3).
• Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
• Dalla Torre, K. W. von. 1893. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus. Vol. 7. Formicidae (Heterogyna). Leipzig: W. Engelmann, 289 pp. (page 15, Prionopelta in Ponerinae)
• Emery, C. 1895l. Die Gattung Dorylus Fab. und die systematische Eintheilung der Formiciden. Zool. Jahrb. Abt. Syst. Geogr. Biol. Tiere 8: 685-778 (page 766, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Amblyoponini)
• Emery, C. 1911e. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Ponerinae. Genera Insectorum 118: 1-125 (page 32, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Ectatommini [subtribe Typhlomyrmecini])
• Fernandez, F., Guerrero, R.J., Sánchez-Restrepo, A.F. 2021. Sistemática y diversidad de las hormigas neotropicales. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 47, 1–20 (doi:10.25100/socolen.v47i1.11082).
• Forel, A. 1893b. Sur la classification de la famille des Formicides, avec remarques synonymiques. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 37: 161-167 (page 162, Prionopelta in Amblyoponinae)
• Forel, A. 1895b. A fauna das formigas do Brazil. Bol. Mus. Para. Hist. Nat. Ethnogr. 1: 89-139 (page 110, Prionopelta in Amblyoponinae [Amblyoponeridae])
• Forel, A. 1917. Cadre synoptique actuel de la faune universelle des fourmis. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 51: 229-253 (page 236, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Ectatommini )
• Kreider, J.J., Chen, T.W., Hartke, T.R., Buchori, D., Hidayat, P., Nazarreta, R., Scheu, S., Drescher, J. 2021. Rainforest conversion to monocultures favors generalist ants with large colonies. Ecosphere 12 (doi:10.1002/ecs2.3717).
• Liu, C., Fischer, G., Hita Garcia, F., Yamane, S., Liu, Q., Peng, Y.Q., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Pierce, N.E. 2020. Ants of the Hengduan Mountains: a new altitudinal survey and updated checklist for Yunnan Province highlight an understudied insect biodiversity hotspot. ZooKeys 978, 1–171 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.978.55767).
• Mayr, G. 1866a. Myrmecologische Beiträge. Sitzungsber. Kais. Akad. Wiss. Wien Math.-Naturwiss. Cl. Abt. I 53: 484-517 (page 503, Prionopelta as genus)
• Richter, A., Boudinot, B., Yamamoto, S., Katzke, J., Beutel, R. G. 2022. The first reconstruction of the head anatomy of a Cretaceous insect, †Gerontoformica gracilis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), and the early evolution of ants. Insect Systematics and Diversity 6(5): 1-80 (doi:10.1093/isd/ixac013).
• Shattuck, S.O. (2008) Revision of the ant genus Prionopelta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Indo-Pacific region. Zootaxa 1846, 21–34.
• Wang, B., Shi, G., Xu, C., Spicer, R. A., Perrichot, V., Schmidt, A. R., Feldberg, K., Heinrichs, J., Chény, C., Pang, H., Liu, X., Gao, T., Wang, Z., Ślipiński, A., Solórzano-Kraemer, M. M., Heads, S. W., Thomas, M. J., Sadowski, E. M., Szwedo, J., Azar, D., Nel, A., Liu, Y., Chen, J., Zhang, Q., Zhang, Q., Luo, C., Yu, T., Zheng, D., Zhang, H., Engel, M. S. 2021. The mid-Miocene Zhangpu biota reveals an outstandingly rich rainforest biome in East Asia. Science advances, 7(18), eabg0625 (doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg0625).
• Ward, P.S. & Fisher, B.L. 2016. Tales of dracula ants: the evolutionary history of the ant subfamily Amblyoponinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology, 41, 683–693 (doi:10.1111/syen.12186).
• Wheeler, W. M. 1910f. A new species of Aphomomyrmex from Borneo. Psyche (Camb.) 17: 131-135 (page 134, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Amblyoponini)
• Wheeler, W. M. 1922i. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VII. Keys to the genera and subgenera of ants. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 45: 631-710 (page 642, Prionopelta in Ponerinae, Ectatommini )