Rhytidoponera acanthoponeroides

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online

This species nests under stones in open areas in cloud forest dominated by Araucaria and Podocarpus.

Rhytidoponera acanthoponeroides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ectatomminae
Tribe: Ectatommini
Genus: Rhytidoponera
Species: R. acanthoponeroides
Binomial name
Rhytidoponera acanthoponeroides
Viehmeyer, 1924

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Specimen Label

Identification

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: New Caledonia (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

From present records, this species appears to be restricted to rainforest and cloud forest at higher elevations (500-900m). At Montagne des Sources a worker was collected foraging in open heath or maquis about 20 m from the nearest gully with tall woody shrubs; all other records, including other ground foragers from Montagne des Sources, are from closed forest. Collections come from both sedimentary and ultramafic localities. Nest-site records; under stone (1); in clump of soil and rotting wood (1).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • acanthoponeroides. Rhytidoponera (Chalcoponera) acanthoponeroides Viehmeyer, 1924a: 227 (w.) NEW CALEDONIA.
    • Type-material: holotype worker.
    • Type-locality: New Caledonia (no further data; holotype a single specimen sent to Viehmeyer by Emery).
    • Type-depository: unknown (Ward, 1984: 138, reports holotype not in MNHU).
    • [Note: Ward, 1984: 139, says that specimens, probably from the original series, are in MSNG and NHMB, from New Caledonia: Ngoyé, 19.ix.1911.]
    • Brown, 1958g: 290 (m.).
    • Status as species: Brown, 1958g: 202, 289; Ward, 1984: 138 (redescription); Taylor, 1987a: 71; Bolton, 1995b: 378.
    • Distribution: New Caledonia.

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Brown W. L., Jr. 1958. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. II. Tribe Ectatommini (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 118: 173-362.
  • Jennings J. T., L. Krogmann, and C. Burwell. 2013. Review of the hymenopteran fauna of New Caledonia with a checklist of species. Zootaxa 3736(1): 1-53.
  • 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.
  • Viehmeyer H. 1924. Formiciden der australischen Faunenregion. Entomologische Mitteilungen. Berlin-Dahlem 13: 219-229.
  • Ward P. S. 1984. A revision of the ant genus Rhytidoponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in New Caledonia. Aust. J. Zool. 32: 131-175.
  • Ward P. S. 1985. Taxonomic congruence and disparity in an insular ant fauna: Rhytidoponera in New Caledonia. Systematic Zoology 34: 140-151.