Papyrius nitidus

Papyrius nitidus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Leptomyrmecini
Genus:	Papyrius
Species:	P. nitidus
Binomial name
	Papyrius nitidus; (Mayr, 1862) Specimen Label
Subspecies
	Papyrius nitidus clitellarius Viehmeyer, 1925; Papyrius nitidus oceanicus Forel, 1901; Papyrius nitidus queenslandensis Forel, 1901;
Synonyms
	Acantholepis tuberculatus Lowne, 1865;

This species is widespread in the SWBP, and also occurs in the Kimberley Region.

Photo Gallery

Papyrius nitidus tending scale insects (Coccoidea). They are also known to tend the caterpillars of various butterflies. Brigadoon, Western Australia. Photo by Farhan Bokhari, 6 June 6 2009.
Papyrius nitidus tending scale insects (Coccoidea). They are also known to tend the caterpillars of various butterflies. Brigadoon, Western Australia. Photo by Farhan Bokhari, 6 June 6 2009.

Identification

Keys including this Species

Dolichoderinae of the southwestern Australian Botanical Province

Distribution

WA, NSW and the NT.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -7.338147° to -42.21895°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (type locality).
Indo-Australian Region: New Guinea.

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.

Biology

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb


Worker. Specimen code casent0104657. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by AMNH, New York, NY, USA.

Nomenclature

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

nitidus. Iridomyrmex nitida Mayr, 1862: 702 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Forel, 1901b: 20 (q.m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1951: 186 (l.); Crozier, 1969: 250 (k.). Combination in Papyrius: Shattuck, 1992a: 17. Senior synonym of tuberculatus: Mayr, 1870b: 955. Current subspecies: nominal plus clitellarius, oceanicus, queenslandensis. See also: Wheeler, W.M. 1909a: 28; Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1974b: 400; Shattuck, 1994: 134.
tuberculatus. Acantholepis tuberculatus Lowne, 1865b: 332 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Junior synonym of nitidus: Mayr, 1870b: 955.

Type Material

Acantholepis tuberculatus Lowne, 1865: Syntype, worker(s) (probable), Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, The Natural History Museum.
Iridomyrmex nitida Mayr, 1862: Syntype, 1 worker, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, The Natural History Museum.
Iridomyrmex nitida Mayr, 1862: Syntype, 5 workers, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève.
Iridomyrmex nitida Mayr, 1862: Syntype, worker(s), Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, Australia, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna.

Description

Karyotype

n = 8, 2n = 16 (Australia) (Crozier, 1968a; Imai et al., 1977) (as Iridomyrmex nitidus).

References

Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
Crozier, R. H. 1969a [1968]. Cytotaxonomic studies on some Australian dolichoderine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Caryologia 21: 241-259 (page 250, karyotype described)
Forel, A. 1901b. Critique des expériences faites dès 1887 avec quelques nouvelles expériences. Troisième partie (1901). Riv. Biol. Gen. 3: 7-62 (page 20, queen, male described)
Heterick, B. E. 2009a. A guide to the ants of South-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 76: 1-206. Part 1.
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).
Hoffmann, B., Eldridge, J., Marston, C. 2023. The first eradication of an exotic ant species from the entirety of Australia: Pheidole fervens. Management of Biological Invasions, 14(4), 619–624 (doi:10.3391/mbi.2023.14.4.03).
Mayr, G. 1862. Myrmecologische Studien. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 12: 649-776 (page 702, worker described)
Mayr, G. 1870b. Neue Formiciden. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 20: 939-996 (page 955, Senior synonym of turberculatus)
Shattuck, S. O. 1992a. Review of the dolichoderine ant genus Iridomyrmex Mayr with descriptions of three new genera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J. Aust. Entomol. Soc. 31: 13-18 (page 17, Combination in Papyrius)
Shattuck, S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Univ. Calif. Publ. Entomol. 112:i-xix, 1-241. (page 134, see also)
Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1951. The ant larvae of the subfamily Dolichoderinae. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 53: 169-210 (page 186, larva described)
Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1974b [1973]. Ant larvae of the subfamily Dolichoderinae: second supplement (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pan-Pac. Entomol. 49: 396-401 (page 400, see also)
Wheeler, W. M. 1909a. A small collection of ants from Victoria, Australia. J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 17: 25-29 (page 28, see also)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Crawley W. C. 1915. Ants from north and central Australia, collected by G. F. Hill. - Part I. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (8)15: 130-136.
Donisthorpe H. 1948. A second instalment of the Ross Collection of ants from New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (11)14: 297-317.
Fisher J., L. Beames, B. J. Rangers, N. N. Rangers, J. Majer, and B. Heterick. 2014. Using ants to monitor changes within and surrounding the endangered Monsoon Vine Thickets of the tropical Dampier Peninsula, north Western Australia. Forest Ecology and Management 318: 7890.
Janda M., G. D. Alpert, M. L. Borowiec, E. P. Economo, P. Klimes, E. Sarnat, and S. O. Shattuck. 2011. Cheklist of ants described and recorded from New Guinea and associated islands. Available on http://www.newguineants.org/. Accessed on 24th Feb. 2011.
Room P. M. 1975. Diversity and organization of the ground foraging ant faunas of forest, grassland and tree crops in Papua Nez Guinea. Aust. J. Zool. 23: 71-89.
Room, P.M. 1975. Relative Distributions of Ant Species in Cocoa Plantations in Papua New Guinea Relative Distributions of Ant Species in Cocoa Plantations in Papua New Guinea. Journal of Applied Ecology 12(1):47-61
Stitz H. 1911. Australische Ameisen. (Neu-Guinea und Salomons-Inseln, Festland, Neu-Seeland). Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin 1911: 351-381.
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.
Viehmeyer H. 1912. Ameisen aus Deutsch Neuguinea gesammelt von Dr. O. Schlaginhaufen. Nebst einem Verzeichnisse der papuanischen Arten. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Königlichen Zoologischen und Anthropologische-Ethnographischen Museums zu Dresden 14: 1-26.