.jpg){kind=logo}
Tetraponera mimula
| Tetraponera mimula | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Pseudomyrmecinae |
| Genus: | Tetraponera |
| Species: | T. mimula |
| Binomial name | |
| Tetraponera mimula Ward, 2001 | |
Tetraponera mimula is known from two locations in Papua New Guinea. The types were collected “ex trunks and tops of felled trees” in rainforest at 1100 m. A more recent collection by Roy Snelling was made in lowland rainforest.
Identification
Ward (2001) - This species is closely similar to Tetraponera laeviceps, but it can be diagnosed by a suite of worker traits: the eyes are smaller (see REL and REL2 values), the frontal carinae are farther apart (FCI - 0.18), and the petiole is shorter and broader (compare PWI values). The index, MFC/EL, provides the sharpest distinction: 0.38-0.45 in T. mimula and 0.25-0.30 in T. laeviceps. Most T. laeviceps workers also have a more slender profemur, broader pronotum, and more elevated propodeum than those of T. mimula but T. laeviceps is sufficiently variable that these differences are not diagnostic (FI, PrWM/MTW and PDI values overlap). T. mimula is known from only two localities and at both of these it is sympatric with T. laeviceps, strengthening the inference that these are two different species.
Keys including this Species
- Key to Tetraponera of the Oriental and Australian regions
- Key to Tetraponera queens of the Oriental and Australian regions
Distribution
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: 7.7° to -7.300000191°.
| North Temperate |
North Subtropical |
Tropical | South Subtropical |
South Temperate |
- Source: AntMaps
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: New Guinea (type locality).
Distribution based on AntMaps
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. |
|
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. |
|
Biology
Castes
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- mimula. Tetraponera mimula Ward, 2001: 634, figs. 87, 93 (w.) NEW GUINEA.
Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.
Description
Worker
HW 0.87-0.94, HL 1.01-1.08, LHT 0.66-0.78, CI 0.82-0.87, FCI 0.17-0.19, REL 0.36-0.39, REL2 0.41-0.45, SI 0.50-0.54, SI3 1.11-1.28, FI 0.49-0.50, PLI 0.58-0.61, PWI 0.55-0.57, PDI 1.10-1.15, LHT/HW 0.77-0.83, CSC 3-5, MSC 11-18.
Medium-sized species, with relatively broad head; similar to T. laeviceps in many respects, but frontal carinae more widely separated, the distance between them clearly exceeding maximum scape width; eyes smaller, REL <0.40, REL2 <0.46; profemur more robust than that of most T. laeviceps workers (see FI values); pronotum relatively narrow (PrWM/HW 0.57-0.60, PrWM/MTW 1.04-1.16), its maximum width occurring below the lateral margins; anteromedial surface of pronotum essentially flat; propodeum moderately elevated (see PDI values), its dorsal face somewhat flattened in profile, declining posteriorly, and more or less differentiated from the declivitous face; petiole relatively short and broad (see PLI and PWI values); postpetiole broader than long; metabasitarsal sulcus well developed, lying in a patch of darkened, raised cuticle occupying a little more than half the length of the basitarsus. Integument sculpture as in T. laeviceps, punctures rather dense (subcontiguous) on anteriormost portions of head and pronotum. Standing pilosity moderately well developed (see CSC and MSC values); appressed pubescence common on most of body, dense on postpetiole and abdominal tergites. Black to dark brownish-black, mandibles, antennae, protibial and tarsi medium brown.
Type Material
Holotype. Worker, Bulolo R. valley, 6 km NE [sic] Wau, Papua New Guinea, 1100 m, vi.l962 (R. W. Taylor #2048) (Australian National Insect Collection). Locality is actually north-west of Wau. Paratype. Worker, same data as holotype (Philip S. Ward Collection).
References
- Ward, P. S. 2001. Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Oriental and Australian regions. Invertebrate Taxonomy. 15:589-665. (page 634, figs. 87, 93 worker described)
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- CSIRO Collection
- Janda M., G. D. Alpert, M. L. Borowiec, E. P. Economo, P. Klimes, E. Sarnat, and S. O. Shattuck. 2011. Cheklist of ants described and recorded from New Guinea and associated islands. Available on http://www.newguineants.org/. Accessed on 24th Feb. 2011.
- Ward P. S. 2001. Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Oriental and Australian regions. Invertebrate Taxonomy 15: 589-665.
- Ward, P. S. 2001. Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Oriental and Australian regions. Invertebrate Taxonomy 15:589-665.