Dolichoderus angusticornis

Dolichoderus angusticornis
Dolichoderus angusticornis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Dolichoderini
Genus:	Dolichoderus
Species group:	scabridus
Species:	D. angusticornis
Binomial name
Dolichoderus angusticornis Clark, 1930

Dolichoderus angusticornis has been collected in dry scrub heath across southern Western Australia and South Australia with workers foraging both day and night.

Identification

A member of the Dolichoderus scabridus species group.

Pronotum rounded, lacking spines, propodeum with elongate spines directed upward at angle of greater than 60° to horizontal plane (may be almost vertical), the angle between them approximately 45°. The presence and angle of the propodeal spines will distinguish this species from all other Australian Dolichoderus species.

Identification Keys including this Taxon

• Key to Australian Dolichoderus Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -31.39999962° to -35°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (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.

Nomenclature

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

• angusticornis. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) angusticornis Clark, 1930b: 260, fig. 10 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in D. (Diceratoclinea): Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69.

Type Material

• Syntype, 3 workers (1 missing gaster), Burracoppin, Western Australia, Australia, 31°24′0″S 118°29′0″E, Museum of Comparative Zoology.
• Syntype, 1 worker, Burracoppin, Western Australia, Australia, 31°24′0″S 118°29′0″E, Museum Victoria, Melbourne.

Description

Worker

Black. Legs and apical half of the spines brownish red.

Subopaque. Mandibles shining with large scattered punctures. Head coarsely punctate-rugose. Clypeus longitudinally rugose. Thorax with very large shallow punctures, densely reticulate between and in the punctures. Epinotal declivity shining, finely transverse striate. Node strongly striate transversely behind. Gaster densely and microscopically punctate.

Hair yellow, erect, long and abundant throughout, shorter and suberect on the legs. Pubescence not apparent, except on the gaster, where it forms a yellowish, rather coarse covering, hiding the sculpture.

Head as long as broad, broader behind than in front, the occipital border straight, the sides strongly convex. Frontal carinae separated by fully their length. Clypeus convex above. the anterior border feebly convex. almost straight, not excised in the middle. Eyes globular, placed at the middle of the sides. Scapes extending beyond the occipital border by onethird of their length; first segment of the funiculus one-third longer than the second, the others subequal. The masticatory border of the mandibles feebly denticulate; the terminal border with seven or eight strong sharp teeth. Thorax one and one-third times longer than broad. Pronotum almost one and three-quarter times broader than long, convex above. Mesonotum circular, convex above. there is a strong sharp tooth on the sides below. Epinotum as broad as long, furnished with two long slender, almost parallel spines, feebly directed outward above; in profile the spines rise at an angle of seventy-five degrees, their base occupying almost all the surface of the epinotum, the declivity abrupt and straight, one and a half times longer than the dorsum. Node three times broader than long, rather deeply concave on top, the anterior face concave. the posterior convex. Gaster longer than broad, concave in front below. Legs long and slender.

Shattuck and Marsden (2013) - The available material shows little variation.

Measurements (n=5). CI 93–97; EI 22–23; EL 0.28–0.30; HL 1.28–1.31; HW 1.21–1.27; ML 1.83–1.98; MTL 1.10–1.21; PronI 71.87–76.86; PronW 0.88–0.97; SI 104–115; SL 1.31–1.44.

References

• Dill, M. 2002. Taxonomy of the migrating herdsman species of the genus Dolichoderus Lund, 1831, with remarks on the systematics of other Southeast-Asian Dolichoderus. Pp. 17-113 in: Dill, M., Williams, D. J. and U. Maschwitz. 2002. Herdsmen ants and their mealybug partners. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main. 557:1-373.
• Clark, J. 1930b. The Australian ants of the genus Dolichoderus (Formicidae). Subgenus Hypoclinea Mayr. Aust. Zool. 6: 252-268 (page 260, fig. 10 worker described)
• Heterick, B.E. 2021. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part I: Systematics. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 86, 1-245 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2021.001-245).
• Heterick, B.E. 2022. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part II: Distribution and biology. Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement 86: 247-510 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2022.247-510).
• Shattuck, S.O. & Marsden, S. 2013. Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3716, 101–143 (doi 10.11646/zootaxa.3716.2.1).
• Wheeler, W. M. 1935c. Myrmecological notes. Psyche (Camb.) 42: 68-72 (page 69, Combination in D. (Diceratoclinea))

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.