Basiceros scambognathus

Basiceros scambognathus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Basiceros
Species:	B. scambognathus
Binomial name
Basiceros scambognathus (Brown, 1949) Specimen labels

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Basiceros species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 0.833333333° to -17.881°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Brazil (type locality), Venezuela.

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.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0172317. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by ANIC, Canberra, Australia.

Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0172825. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MCZ, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Phylogeny

Basiceros	Basiceros sp.n.A Basiceros convexiceps Basiceros manni Basiceros singularis Basiceros scambognathus Basiceros conjugans Basiceros disciger Basiceros militaris

Based on Probst et al., 2019.

Nomenclature

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

• scambognathus. Creightonidris scambognatha Brown, 1949f: 89 (q.) BRAZIL (Goiás).
  • Type-material: holotype queen.
  • Type-locality: Brazil: Goiás, Campinas, x.1935 (Schwarzmeier).
  • Type-depository: MZSP.
  • Feitosa, et al. 2007: 19 (w.m.).
  • Combination in Basiceros: Fernández, 2003d: 392.
  • Status as species: Brown & Kempf, 1960: 178; Kempf, 1972a: 81; Bolton, 1995b: 146; Fernández, 2003d: 392; Feitosa, et al. 2007: 19 (redescription); Bezděčková, et al. 2015: 115; Fernández & Serna, 2019: 844.
  • Distribution: Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Peru, Venezuela.

Description

Worker: Size relatively medium (TL between 4,9 and 8,7 mm). Reddish to dark‑brown in color. Integument thick and in general densely sculptured; foveolate over head disc, mesosoma with conspicuous deep to shallowly set punctuation, densely punctate over most or all the gaster. Pilosity conspicuous and bizarre; sub‑decumbent hairs abundant, spatulate, squamiform or plumose; erect abundant or sparse hairsclavate or stout and truncate. Labrum with fine sensorial hairs. Head trapezoidal, triangular or rounded posteriorly; posterior and lateral head borders always visible and clearly distinct, and either rounded or crested, or else combined into curving, continuous or near continuous crest around posterior margin of head. Dorsal surface of head flattened to depressed, slightly convex in some species. Mandibles sub‑porrect, triangular to subtriangular, with straight, opposable, multidenticulate masticatory borders; apical portion from straight to strongly bent ventrally; basal portion flat and smooth to moderately convex and sculptured in frontal view; blade narrowed near insertion, the resulting peduncle either partly exposed or entirely hidden beneath clypeus, interspace between basal mandibular margin and anterior clypeal border present to absent in varying degrees. Eyes relatively well developed (ocular index ca 11). Antennal scape flattened, broad, and lobate at the basal portion; funiculus moderately clavate with 11 segments.
Mesosoma usually robust. Metanotal groove present. Propodeal teeth always triangular in lateral view, lamelliform, short, more or less acute, and connected to each other by a transverse carina. Petiole pedunculate and usually with ventral carina bearing one or more teeth. Gastric dorsum with a median longitudinal strip slightly impressed or devoid of pilosity. According to Brown (1974) Basiceros has 5 Malpighian tubules.

References

• Albuquerque, E., Prado, L., Andrade-Silva, J., Siqueira, E., Sampaio, K., Alves, D., Brandão, C., Andrade, P., Feitosa, R., Koch, E., Delabie, J., Fernandes, I., Baccaro, F., Souza, J., Almeida, R., Silva, R. 2021. Ants of the State of Pará, Brazil: a historical and comprehensive dataset of a key biodiversity hotspot in the Amazon Basin. Zootaxa 5001, 1–83 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5001.1.1).
• Borysenko, L.H. 2022. The male of the ant genus Rhopalothrix (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Neotropical Entomology 51, 413–422 (doi:10.1007/s13744-022-00947-w).
• Cantone S. 2017. Winged Ants, The Male, Dichotomous key to genera of winged male ants in the World, Behavioral ecology of mating flight (self-published).
• 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).
• Feitosa, R. M., C. R. F. Brandão and B. H. Dietz. 2007. Basiceros scambognathus (Brown, 1949) n.comb., with the worker and male descriptions, and a revised generic diagnosis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Papeis Avulsos do Departamento de Zoologia 47(2): 15-26.
• Franco, W., Ladino, N., Delabie, J.H.C., Dejean, A., Orivel, J., Fichaux, M., Groc, S., Leponce, M., Feitosa, R.M. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674, 509–543 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4674.5.2).
• Melo, T.S., Koch, E.B.A., Andrade, A.R.S., Travassos, M.L.O., Peres, M.C.L., Delabie, J.H.C. 2021. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in different green areas in the metropolitan region of Salvador, Bahia state, Brazil. Brazilian Journal of Biology 82, e236269 (doi:10.1590/1519-6984.236269).
• Probst, R.S., Brandão, C.R.F. 2022. A taxonomic revision of the dirt ants, Basiceros Schulz, 1906 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Zootaxa 5149 (1): 1-75 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5149.1.1).
• Probst, R.S., Wray, B.D., Moreau, M.S. and Brandão CRF. 2019. A Phylogenetic Analysis of the Dirt Ants, Basiceros (Formicidae: Myrmicinae): Inferring Life Histories Through Morphological Convergence. Insect Systematics and Diversity 3(4): 1–12.
• Ulysséa, M.A., Brandão, C.R.F. 2013. Ant species (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the seasonally dry tropical forest of northeastern Brazil: a compilation from field surveys in Bahia and literature records. Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 57, 217–224 (doi:10.1590/s0085-56262013005000002).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Brown W. L., Jr. 1949. Revision of the ant tribe Dacetini: IV. Some genera properly excluded from the Dacetini, with the establishment of the Basicerotini new tribe. Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 75: 83-96.
• Castilho A. C. C., J. H. C. Delabie, M. I. Marques, J. Adis, and L. F. Mendes. 2007. New Records of the Cryptobiotic ant Creightonidris scambognatha Brown (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Brazil. Neotropical Entomology 36(1):150-152.
• Feitosa, R.M., C.R.F. Brandao and B.H. Dietz. 2007. Basiceros scambognathus (Brown, 1949) n. comb., with the first worker and male descriptions, and a revised generic diagnosis (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Papeis Avulsos de Zoologia 47(2):31-42
• Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
• Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.
• Probst R. S., B. D. Wray, C. S. Moreau, and C. R. F. Brandao. 2019. A phylogenetic analysis of the dirt ants, Basiceros (Formicidae: Myrmicinae): inferring life histories through morphological convergence. Insect Systematics and Diversity 3(4): 1–12.
• Probst da Silva R. 2015. Revisao taxonomica e analise filogenetica de Basiceros Schulz, 1906 (Formicidae, Myrmicinae, Basicerotini). Master Thesis Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo. 263 pages.