Stereomyrmex

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Stereomyrmex
worker and male of S. horni
worker and male of S. horni
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Formicoxenini
Genus: Stereomyrmex
Emery, 1901
Diversity
3 species
Type species
Stereomyrmex horni
Emery, 1901
Species

see text.
Synonyms

Willowsiella
S. dispar worker
S. dispar worker

Stereomyrmex is a genus of myrmicine ants. Two of the described species are known from only a single worker, making this one of the rarest groups of ants in the world[1].

Contents

[edit] Biology

The single specimen of S. anderseni was caught in a pitfall trap, and nothing is known about its biology.

[edit] Systematics

Stereomyrmex is probably the sister taxon to Romblonella. Closely related genera are Leptothorax Mayr and Cardiocondyla Emery.[2]

[edit] Description

S. dispar is 3.2 mm long and black, with yellowish brown mandibles, antennae, legs and terminal segments of gaster. S. anderseni is only 2 mm long, has a very different petiolar and postpetiolar structure and is paler in color[2].

[edit] Distribution

S. dispar has been described from a single worker, taken in 1933 on Bellona Island, Solomon Islands; no other specimen has since been found, and it is unlikely that the species is truly endemic to Bellona. S. anderseni is known from a single worker as well.[2] S. horni was collected under rocks in Sri Lanka[3].

[edit] Names

The genus was originally named in honor of Maurice Willows Jr., who collected the type specimen of S. dispar[4]. S. anderseni was collected by A.N. Andersen. S. horni was collected by W. Horn.

[edit] Species

  • Stereomyrmex anderseni (Taylor, 1991) — King Edward River, Western Australia
  • Stereomyrmex dispar (Wheeler, 1934) — Bellona, Solomon Islands
  • Stereomyrmex horni Emery, 1901 — Sri Lanka

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Australian Ants Online
  2. ^ a b c Taylor 1991
  3. ^ Emery 1901
  4. ^ Wheeler 1934

[edit] References

  • Emery, Carlo (1901): Ameisen gesammelt in Ceylon von Dr. W. Horn 1899. Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 1901: 113-122. PDF
  • Wheeler, William M. (1934): Formicidae of the Templeton Crocker Expedition, 1933. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 21(4): 173-181. PDF
  • Taylor, Robert W. (1991): Notes on the ant genera Romblonella and Willowsiella, with comments on their affinities, and the first descriptions of Australian species. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Psyche 97: 281-298. PDF
  • ITIS: Genus Willowsiella
  • Australian Ants Online: Genus Stereomyrmex

[edit] Further reading

  • Bolton, B. (2003): Synopsis and classification of Formicidae. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 71: 1-370. Taxon citations
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