Ooceraea australis

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Ooceraea australis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dorylinae
Genus: Ooceraea
Species: O. australis
Binomial name
Ooceraea australis
(Forel, 1900)

Cerapachys edentatus casent0106146 p 1 high.jpg

Cerapachys edentatus casent0106146 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

Heterick collected this species from under a rock on Mt Brown, near York in the western wheatbelt (WA). The workers were in enormous numbers and attached to one another by their mandibles, the insects falling away from the underside of the rock in huge, tangled skeins. The appearance of the colony, without any evidence of nest holes, suggested bivouacking in the manner of army ants. (as reported for the synonym O. edentatus, Heterick 2009).

Identification

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Heterick (2009), as reported for the synonym O. edentatus: occasionally collected around Perth, even in Perth suburbs that retain some native vegetation, but has also been recorded in the ACT, NSW and Qld.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -10.55° to -33.95000076°.

   
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

Images from AntWeb

Cerapachys edentatus casent0249322 h 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0249322 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0249322 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0249322 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0249322. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by PSWC, Philip S. Ward Collection.
Cerapachys edentatus casent0902745 h 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0902745 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0902745 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0902745 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Syscia australis edentataWorker. Specimen code casent0902745. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.
Cerapachys edentatus casent0902746 h 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0902746 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0902746 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0902746 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Syscia australisWorker. Specimen code casent0902746. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.
Cerapachys edentatus casent0907057 h 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0907057 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0907057 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0907057 l 1 high.jpg
Lectotype of Syscia australisWorker. Specimen code casent0907057. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Cerapachys edentatus casent0907058 h 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0907058 p 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0907058 d 1 high.jpgCerapachys edentatus casent0907058 l 1 high.jpg
Lectotype of Syscia australis edentataWorker. Specimen code casent0907058. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

  • australis. Syscia autralis Forel, 1900b: 68 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
    • Type-locality: Australia: Queensland, Mackay (Turner).
    • Type-depositories: ANIC, MHNG, NHMB.
    • [Justified emendation of spelling to australis: Emery, 1911d: 12.]
    • Wheeler, G.C & Wheeler, J. 1973d: 205 (l.).
    • Combination in Cerapachys (Syscia): Emery, 1902c: 24;
    • combination in Ooceraea: Borowiec, M.L. 2016: 198.
    • Status as species: Emery, 1911d: 10; Wheeler, W.M. 1918a: 263 (redescription); Crawley, 1915a: 133; Brown, 1975: 22, 72 (as edentata); Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 143; Heterick, 2009: 126.
    • Synonym of edentata: Brown, 1975: 22, 72; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142; Zhou, Chen & Chen 2020: 142 (in key).
    • [Note: all these authors give edentata as senior synonym, but australis has priority. The error arose from Brown’s assumption that australis was a junior homonym, which is not the case.]
    • Distribution: Australia.
  • edentata. Syscia australis var. edentata Forel, 1900b: 69 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
    • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
    • Type-locality: Australia: Queensland, Mackay (Turner).
    • Type-depositories: ANIC, MHNG.
    • [Misspelled as edentula by Emery, 1911d: 10.]
    • Combination in Cerapachys (Syscia): Emery, 1911d: 10.
    • Subspecies of australis: Emery, 1911d: 10; Wheeler, W.M. 1918a: 264.
    • Synonym of australis: Brown, 1975: 22, 72; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142.
    • [Note: all these authors give edentata as senior synonym, but australis has priority. The error arose from Brown’s assumption that australis was a junior homonym, which is not the case.]

Type Material

Description

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Brown W. L., Jr. 1975. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. V. Ponerinae, tribes Platythyreini, Cerapachyini, Cylindromyrmecini, Acanthostichini, and Aenictogitini. Search Agric. (Ithaca N. Y.) 5(1): 1-115.
  • CSIRO Collection
  • Forel A. 1900. Ponerinae et Dorylinae d'Australie récoltés par MM. Turner, Froggatt, Nugent, Chase, Rothney, J.-J. Walker, etc. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 44: 54-77.
  • Heterick B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1-206.