Lioponera clarki

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Lioponera clarki
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dorylinae
Genus: Lioponera
Species: L. clarki
Binomial name
Lioponera clarki
(Crawley, 1922)

Cerapachys clarki casent0249290 p 1 high.jpg

Cerapachys clarki casent0249290 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

Brown (1975) - In Australia, a raid of L. clarki was observed in 1951 in open eucalypt woodland at Berrimah, near Darwin, Northern Territory, over bare soil against a nest of a small Iridomyrmex in bright morning sunlight. This raid was very loose and involved only 3 or 4 Lioponera workers while I watched it, so it may have been the final stages of an action begun much earlier.

Identification

Heterick (2009) - Lioponera clarki is distinguished by the lack of a dorsolateral cephalic carina curving towards the eye, lack of ocelli and a wide node with posterior angles that in dorsal view extend laterally beyond its anterior margin.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Heterick (2009) - A predominantly sand-plain species that is also found in the NT and drier areas of south-eastern Australia.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -21.7° to -31.88333°.

   
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Cerapachys clarki casent0902751 h 1 high.jpgCerapachys clarki casent0902751 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys clarki casent0902751 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys clarki casent0902751 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Phyracaces castaneusWorker. Specimen code casent0902751. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.
Cerapachys clarki casent0902750 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys clarki casent0902750 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys clarki casent0902750 l 1 high.jpg
Specimen code casent0902750. .

Nomenclature

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

  • clarki. Phyracaces clarki Crawley, 1922b: 433 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated, “a small colony”).
    • Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, Darlington, no. 9 (J. Clark).
    • Type-depository: OXUM.
    • Combination in Cerapachys: Brown, 1975: 22;
    • combination in Lioponera: Borowiec, M.L. 2016: 163.
    • Status as species: Brown, 1975: 22, 66; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142; Heterick, 2009: 128.
    • Senior synonym of castaneus: Brown, 1975: 22; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142.
    • Distribution: Australia.
  • castaneus. Phyracaces castaneus Clark, 1924b: 79, pl. 7, figs. 7-14 (w.q.m.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
    • Type-material: syntype worker, syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated, “Described from a colony containing workers, females, males, and two pseudogynes”).
    • Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, Hovea (J. Clark).
    • Type-depository: MVMA.
    • Junior synonym of clarki: Brown, 1975: 22; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142.

Type Material

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Heterick B. E., B. Durrant, and N. R. Gunawardene. 2010. The ant fauna of the Pilbara Bioregion, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 78: 157-167.