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Meranoplus hirsutus
| Meranoplus hirsutus | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Crematogastrini |
| Genus: | Meranoplus |
| Species: | M. hirsutus |
| Binomial name | |
| Meranoplus hirsutus Mayr, 1876
| |
Workers are not uncommonly encountered foraging diurnally on vegetation, at least to several metres above ground. Nests in soil or rotting wood on the ground or under stones. Most northern labels specify rainforest, rainforest edges, gallery rainforest or "scrub". In the south, specimens from the Glasshouse Mountains are labeled "dry sclerophyll"; those from Mt. Coottha "med sclerophyll", and from Mt. Nullum "dry sclero, under rock in creek bed". The most southern series (Blue Knob Mt.) is labeled "RF" (= rain-forest). (Taylor 2006)
Identification
Taylor (2006) - Translucent fenestrae at middle and posterolateral sections of promesonotal shield; shield not strongly arched in frontal view. Colour as illustrated – generally medium reddish-brown, gaster brightly orange-brown. A distinctively coloured, spinose and hirsute species, relatively heavily sculptured. No other known Meranoplus species with similar general colouration or with HWE less than 1.10 mm is as sharply or brightly bicoloured, none have such well-developed promesonotal spination, and few are anything like as densely pilose. No species with equivalent known distribution is at all similar. Meranoplus hirsutus is thus readily recognisable. There is no apparently significant discernable geographical variation.
Distribution
Taylor (2006) - Known from sections of the Great Dividing Range and its eastern flanks south from c.15° 45' S in NE Queensland to ca 28° 30' S in NE New South Wales. Typically in rainforest. Elevational range from near sea level to 950 m (Mt. Windsor Tableland) or "800 - 1000 m" (Black Mountain, ESE of Julatten).
Latitudinal Distribution Pattern
Latitudinal Range: -15.83° to -33.86527°.
| 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. |
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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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Elevation Range
| Species | Elevation (m asl) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 | 400 | 600 | 800 | 1000 | 1200 | |
| Meranoplus hirsutus | 60-70 | 30-40 | ||||
| Shading indicates the bands of elevation where species was recorded. Numbers are the percentage of total samples containing this species. | ||||||
Biology
Castes
Worker
   
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Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- hirsutus. Meranoplus hirsutus Mayr, 1876: 112 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
- Type-material: lectotype worker (by designation of Taylor, 1990c: 38), 7 paralectotype workers.
- Type-locality: lectotype Australia: Queensland, Gayndah; paralectotypes with same data.
- Type-depository: NHMW.
- Status as species: Dalla Torre, 1893: 136; Forel, 1915b: 46; Emery, 1924d: 229; Clark, 1928c: 42; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 67; Taylor, 1987a: 39; Taylor, 1990c: 38 (in text); Bolton, 1995b: 251; Taylor, 2006: 21 (redescription).
- Distribution: Australia.
Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.
Description
Worker
Taylor (2006) - The smallest and largest specimens (determined by surveying HWE) in a series of 32 workers from 30 km S of Sarina Qld. (ANIC) have the following dimensions: HW 0.83, 1.03; HWE 0.99, 1.23; HL 0.84, 0.98; CI 99, 105; EL 0.17, 0.22; OI 21, 21; PSW 1.24, 1.42; PSL 0.93, 1.12; PSI 125, 126; GW 1.12, 1.52.
Type Material
- Syntype, 5 workers, Gayndah, Queensland, Australia, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna.
References
- Burwell, C.J., Nakamura, A. 2020. Rainforest ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an elevational gradient at Eungella in the Clarke Range, Central Queensland coast, Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 125: 43-63.
- 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).
- Mayr, G. 1876. Die australischen Formiciden. J. Mus. Godeffroy 12: 56-115 (page 112, worker described)
- Taylor, R.W. 2006. Ants of the genus Meranoplus F. Smith, 1853: Three new species and others from northeastern Australian rainforests. Myrmecologische Nachrichten. 8:21-29.
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.
- Taylor R. W. 2006. Ants of the genus Meranoplus F. Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): three new species and others from northeastern Australian rainforests. Myrmecologische Nachrichten 8: 21-29.
- Wilson E. O. 1959. Patchy distributions of ant species in New Guinea rain forests. Psyche (Cambridge) 65: 26-38.