Lepisiota capensis

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Lepisiota capensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Tribe: Plagiolepidini
Genus: Lepisiota
Species: L. capensis
Binomial name
Lepisiota capensis
(Mayr, 1862)

Lepisiota capensis casent0146042 profile 1.jpg

Lepisiota capensis casent0146042 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen Label

Subspecies
At a Glance • Limited invasive  

Identification

Distribution

Wachkoo et al. (2021) - The nominal form of L. capensis does not occur naturally in India, despite its implied presence by the use of the name L. capensis reported by Bingham (1903). The species referred to in the latter paper, with abundant yellowish erect setae is clearly not L. capensis, which has sparse dark (brown or black) erect setae (see Mayr 1862, 1865; Arnold 1920) and is distributed in southern Africa (not from the Himalayas through to Northeastern Africa).

Bingham’s (1903) report was apparently based on an erroneous reporting of the presence of L. capensis with whitish setae in India and Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) by Forel (1892, 1894), and the attribution of dense pilosity to L. capensis served only to perpetuate this error until today (Peter Hawkes & F. Hita Garcia, pers. comm.).

The Indian material currently and in the past attributed to L. capensis in fact represents a very different species, now known to be Lepisiota mayri.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 32.812778° to -34.76667°.

     
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa (type locality).
Malagasy Region: Madagascar.
Palaearctic Region: Canary Islands, China.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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.
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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.
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Biology

Association with Other Organisms

Explore-icon.png Explore: Show all Associate data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.
  • This species is a host for the encyrtid wasp Anagyrus lopezi (a parasite) (Universal Chalcidoidea Database) (associate).
  • This species is a host for the cricket Myrmophilellus meneliki (a myrmecophile) in Ethiopia (Reichensperger, 1913).
  • This species is a prey for the syrphid fly Paramixogaster acantholepidis (a predator) (Quevillon, 2018).

Castes

Nomenclature

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

  • capensis. Acantholepis capensis Mayr, 1862: 699 (w.) SOUTH AFRICA. Mayr, 1865: 57 (m.); Emery, 1877b: 366 (q.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1980: 542 (l.). Combination in Lepisiota: Xu, 1994c: 233. Current subspecies: nominal plus acholli, anceps, guineensis, issore, junodi, laevis, lunaris, minuta, simplex, simplicoides, specularis, subopaciceps, thoth. See also: Bingham, 1903: 316; Arnold, 1920a: 568.

Description

Prins 1983. Figure 4 - Proventriculus.

Karyotype

Explore-icon.png Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.
  • 2n = 18 (India) (Imai et al., 1984) (as Acantholepis lunaris).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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