Dolichoderus dentatus

Dolichoderus dentatus
Dolichoderus dentatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Dolichoderini
Genus:	Dolichoderus
Species group:	doriae
Species:	D. dentatus
Binomial name
Dolichoderus dentatus Forel, 1902 Specimen labels

Dolichoderus dentatus is found in dry sclerophyll woodlands and savannah of eastern Queensland from the Atherton Tablelands south to Cooloola Recreation Area, Great Sandy National Park. Its glandular compounds were examined by Cavill and Hinterberger (1960a, 1960b) while notes on its venom and venom apparatus were provided by Blum and Hermann (1978).

Identification

Pronotum and propodeum with elongate spines; the long pronotal spines are directed anteriorly and approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body; in dorsal view a line drawn between their tips lies anterior of the pronotal collar.

The long, anteriorly directed pronotal 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: -19.26667023° to -26.93333°.

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.

• dentatus. Dolichoderus doriae var. dentata Forel, 1902h: 461 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in D. (Hypoclinea): Emery, 1913a: 12; in D. (Acanthoclinea): Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69 (misspelled as edentata). Raised to species: Clark, 1930b: 255. See also: Shattuck, 1994: 48.

Type Material

• Dolichoderus doriae dentatus Forel, 1902: Syntype, 3 workers, Mackay, Queensland, Australia, 21°9′0″S 149°11′0″E, Turner,G., ANIC32-015067, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Dolichoderus doriae dentatus Forel, 1902: Syntype, 5 workers, Mackay, Queensland, Australia, 21°9′0″S 149°11′0″E, Museum of Comparative Zoology.
• Dolichoderus doriae dentatus Forel, 1902: Syntype, 36 workers, Mackay, Queensland, Australia, 21°9′0″S 149°11′0″E, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève.
• Dolichoderus doriae dentatus Forel, 1902: Syntype, 1 worker, Mackay, Queensland, Australia, 21°9′0″S 149°11′0″E, Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel.

Description

Worker

Clark (1930) - Head and gaster black, thorax brown, the epinotum and spines red, mandibles, clypeus, antennae and legs yellowish red.

Shining. Head irregularly punctate-rugose. Clypeus finely striate-rugose longitudinally. Mandibles longitudinally striate and sparsely punctate. Pronotum and mesonotum coarsely punctate, the punctures large and shallow. The epinotum more shining, the punctures much wider apart. Top of the node irregularly rugose. Gaster microscopically reticulate-punctate.

Hair yellow, short and erect, very sparse, except on the gaster, very short on the antennae and legs. Pubescence apparent only on the gaster, where it forms a thin covering, by no means hiding the sculpture. Head as long as broad, broadest at the eyes, the occipital border straight, the sides strongly convex, the angles rounded. Frontal carinae short, their distance apart equal to their length. Clypeus convex above, the anterior border convex, deeply excised at the middle. Eyes globular, placed at the middle of the sides. Scapes extending beyond the occipital border by fully one-third of their length; first segment of the funiculus one-fifth longer than the second, the others subequal. Mandibles finely denticulate on the masticatory border, the denticles increasing in size from the base to the apex; the terminal border furnished with ten sharp teeth. Thorax two and three-quarter times longer than broad. Pronotum twice as broad as long, furnished in front with two long, very slender spines directed forward and outward, as long as their distance apart at the base; in profile directed forward and downward, curved towards the apex. Mesonotum circular; in profile feebly convex longitudinally, not so high as the pronotum, there is a strong sharp tooth on the side below. Epinotum longer than broad, furnished with two long, sharp, slender spines directed upward, backward and outward; in profile they are at an angle of about forty degrees, the dorsum straight, the declivity concave. Node barely three times broader than long, the anterior and posterior borders straight, the dorsum feebly concave. Gaster longer than broad, the anterior face concave below. Legs long and slender.

Shattuck and Marsden (2013) - Workers show slight variation in body colour, some being more reddish and less red-black, and with the legs sometimes slightly lighter yellow-red.

Measurements (n=5). CI 95–104; EI 16–19; EL 0.26–0.32; HL 1.59–1.71; HW 1.60–1.70; ML 2.49–2.63; MTL 1.66–1.76; PronI 67.27–67.27; PronW 1.08–1.21; SI 104–114; SL 1.77–1.82.

References

• Clark, J. 1930b. The Australian ants of the genus Dolichoderus (Formicidae). Sugenus Hypoclinea Mayr. Aust. Zool. 6: 252-268 (page 255, Raised to species)
• Emery, C. 1913a [1912]. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Dolichoderinae. Genera Insectorum 137: 1-50 (page 12, Combination in D. (Hypoclinea))
• Forel, A. 1902j. Fourmis nouvelles d'Australie. Rev. Suisse Zool. 10: 405-548 (page 461, worker described)
• Shattuck, S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Univ. Calif. Publ. Entomol. 112:i-xix, 1-241. (page 48, see also)
• 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. (Acanthoclinea), and misspelled as edentata)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Shattuck S. O., and S. Marsden. 2013. Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3716(2): 101-143.