Axinidris bidens

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Axinidris bidens
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Dolichoderinae
Genus: Axinidris
Species: A. bidens
Binomial name
Axinidris bidens
Shattuck, 1991

Axinidris bidens casent0403871 profile 1.jpg

Axinidris bidens casent0403871 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen Label

Snelling (2007) - Samples from Cameroun were collected from living stems of Leonardoxa africana. At Isecheno I collected workers running on a fallen tree trunk. One colony collected at Isecheno, on 30 April 2003 from a living stem of Acanthus eminens consisted of a single queen and 44 workers in addition to 19 pupae (17 workers). Alate queens were collected from colony samples in Cameroun during the month of November. This species has been collected by Thomas Wagner while fogging Teclea nobilis, a common forest tree species. Other fogging samples, collected by W. Freund, included some from Heinsenia diervillioides, in addition to T. nobilis. These data suggest that Axinidris bidens, and probably all species of Axinidris, are able to utilize stems or branches of a wide variety of plant species as nesting sites.

Identification

Snelling (2007) - Pronotal humeri and propodeal spines each with a single long fully erect hair, mesosoma otherwise without erect hairs; antennal scape shaft without erect hairs; medial carina absent and propodeal spines distinct.

Shattuck (1991) - A. bidens is similar to Axinidris parvus in its lack of both a medial propodeal carina and strigulate sculpturing near the mandibular insertion. It can be separated from A. parvus by its larger size, darker head and alitrunk colour, and stronger sculpturing on the lateral areas of the head. Additionally, A. bidens is similar to Axinidris tridens in having the propodeal spines reduced to angles, but differs in several other characters including the possession of an elongate erect hair on each propodeal spine.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 4.49° to -2.30921°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Central African Republic, Ghana (type locality), Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda.

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

Species of Axinidris appear to nest exclusively within hollow plant stems, both living and dead, and in rotten wood. They are found in forested areas throughout the Afrotropical region, but are most abundant and diverse in the moist equatorial forests. Workers are primarily arboreal foragers, but may occasionally forage in ground litter.

Castes

Males have yet to be collected.

Nomenclature

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

  • bidens. Axinidris bidens Shattuck, 1991: 111, figs. 8-10, 35 (w.) GHANA.
    • Type-material: holotype worker, 2 paratype workers.
    • Type-locality: holotype Ghana: Tafo (= New Tafo, Eastern Region, Akim District, Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana), 29.vii.1975 (C. Campbell); paratypes with same data.
    • Type-depository: BMNH.
    • Snelling, R.R. 2007: 557 (q.).
    • Status as species: Shattuck, 1994: 9; Bolton, 1995b: 77; Snelling, R.R. 2007: 557; Hita Garcia, et al. 2013: 202.
    • Distribution: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ghana, Kenya.

Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.

Description

Worker

(n=3). OOD 0.22-0.25, EL 0.17-0.18, HL 0.61-0.68, EW 0.09-0.10, HW 0.53-0.58, CNW 0.06-0.07, CND 0.04, SL 0.46-0.48, AL 0.84-0.87, PpW 0.24-0.25, SW 0.13-0.17, CI 0.86-0.90, CNI 0.61-0.67, REL 0.30-0.32, Sci 0.84-0.85, SpI 1.47-1.50.

Small (HW <0.60); area between propodeal spines smooth, without a medial carina; pronotum with 2 elongate, erect hairs; each propodeal spine bearing a single distinct, erect hair; head, alitrunk and gaster reddish brown.

Head finely imbricate (including the area near the mandibular insertion), with the lateral areas nearly smooth and with widely spaced punctures; pilosity limited to one pair of erect hairs on the frontal lobes and one pair on the clypeus. Erect and suberect hairs absent from antennal scapes. Dorsum of pronotum and mesonotum, and entire propodeum, imbricate, with the lateral areas of the pronotum and mesonotum weakly imbricate. Pronotum with one pair of elongate hairs dorsally. Propodeal spiracles with the posterior surface only slightly depressed below the level of the anterior surface. Medial propodeal carina absent. Propodeal spines reduced to lateral angles partly connected by a carina, each bearing an elongate, erect setae, and with the area between them slightly concave. Erect hairs present on gastric tergites 2, 3 and 4. Body colour reddish brown, with the tibia, femur and antenna light reddish brown, the tarsi light yellow, and the mandibles yellowish red, darker basally.

Queen

Snelling (2007) - (mm) (n = 4). HW 0.62-0.63; HL 0.77-0.81; SL 0.50-0.51; EL 0.21-0.23; OVD 0.29-0.32; PNW 0.51-0.58; PPW 0.37; WL 1.05-1.17. Indices. CI 76-82; CNI 80; OI 33-38; SI 80-83.

Generally similar to worker but a little larger and with more elongate head; mesosoma fully developed for flight; interocular distance 1.61-1.87× EL; interocellar distance 3×diameter of median ocellus; ocellocular distance about 6× diameter of median ocellus; medial carina absent; sculpture and pilosity similar to those of worker; mesonotum and metanotum each with a single long erect hair on each side; gastral pilosity about as in worker, but appressed pubescence sparser; total length about 2.5mm.

Type Material

Type material. Holotype worker and two worker paratypes from GHANA: Tafo (C.Campbell) (The Natural History Museum).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Hita Garcia F., E. Wiesel, G. Fischer. 2013. The ants of Kenya (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)—faunal overview, first species checklist, bibliography, accounts for all genera, and discussion on taxonomy and zoogeography. Journal of East African Natural History 101: 127-222.
  • Hita Garcia, F., G. Fischer, M.K. Peters, R.R. Snelling and H.W. Wagele. 2009. A preliminary checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Kakamega Forest (Kenya). Journal of East African Natural HIstory 98(2): 147-165.
  • Snelling, R. R. 2007. A review of the arboreal Afrotropical ant genus Axinidris, pp. 551-579. In Snelling, R. R., B. L. Fisher, and P. S. Ward (eds). Advances in ant systematics (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): homage to E. O. Wilson – 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute, 80.
  • Tadu Z., C. Djieto-Lordon, R. Babin, Yede, E. B. Messop-Youbi, and A. Fomena. 2013. Influence of insecticide treatment on ant diversity in tropical agroforestry system: some aspect of the recolonization process. International Journal of Biodiversity and Conservation 5(12): 832-844.
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