Dolichoderus niger

Dolichoderus niger
Dolichoderus niger
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Dolichoderini
Genus:	Dolichoderus
Species group:	scabridus
Species:	D. niger
Binomial name
Dolichoderus niger Crawley, 1922 Specimen labels

Dolichoderus niger is restricted to low mallee and scrub habitats across southern Western Australia. It has been collected only a handful of times, including in relictual native woodlands in the Perth metropolitan area (Heterick, 2009).

Identification

Pronotum rounded, lacking spines; propodeum with elongate spines which are directed upward at an angle less than 45° to the horizontal plane, in dorsal view the spines with an angle of at least 90° between their bases and this region forming a "V" with a narrowly rounded angle; dorsum of petiolar node angular; legs long and uniformly coloured dark red-brown to reddish-black.

This species most closely resembles Dolichoderus rufotibialis but can be distinguished by the uniformly coloured legs in D. niger compared to the bi-coloured legs found in D. rufotibialis, with its dark femora and lightly coloured tibiae.

Identification Keys including this Taxon

• Key to Australian Dolichoderus Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -31.88333333° to -34.08°.

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.

• niger. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) ypsilon var. nigra Crawley, 1922c: 25 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Raised to species: Shattuck & Marsden, 2013: 125.

Type Material

• Holotype, worker, Kelmscott, Western Australia, Australia, 32°8′0″S 116°0′0″E, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
• Paratype, 14 workers, Kelmscott, Western Australia, Australia, 32°8′0″S 116°0′0″E, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
• Paratype, 3 workers, Kelmscott, Western Australia, Australia, 32°8′0″S 116°0′0″E, The Natural History Museum; (specific locality not given but apparently from type locality).
• Paratype, 2 workers, Kelmscott, Western Australia, Australia, 32°8′0″S 116°0′0″E, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève.
• Paratype, 1 worker, Kelmscott, Western Australia, Australia, 32°8′0″S 116°0′0″E, Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel.

Description

Morphologically uniform except leg colour varying from red-brown to reddish-black, and pilosity on first gastral tergite mostly dense but occasionally noticeably more sparse.

Measurements (n=5). CI 90–99; EI 22–25; EL 0.29–0.32; HL 1.27–1.43; HW 1.20–1.39; ML 1.76–2.11; MTL 1.13–1.35; PronI 71.56–78.84; PronW 0.87–0.99; SI 109–117; SL 1.36–1.51.

References

• Crawley, W. C. 1922e. New ants from Australia (concluded from vol. ix. p. 449). Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 9(10): 16-36.
• 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).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Baroni Urbani C. 1977. Katalog der Typen von Formicidae (Hymenoptera) der Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Basel (2. Teil). Mitt. Entomol. Ges. Basel (n.s.) 27: 61-102.
• Shattuck S. O., and S. Marsden. 2013. Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3716(2): 101-143.