Axinidris palligastrion

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

Axinidris palligastrion casent0902935 p 1 high.jpg

Axinidris palligastrion casent0902935 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

This species has been collected from tree trunks where it was sharing foraging trails with Crematogaster clariventris.

Identification

Snelling (2007) - Scape without and pronotum with erect hairs; medial carina present; distance between spines equal to PPW; pronotum smooth and shiny; mesonotum without rugae; gaster yellowish red, not concolorous with mesosoma.

Similar to Axinidris nigripes. The gaster is distinctly lighter in color than the head and mesosoma, but is not distinctly bicolored as in the otherwise similar Axinidris mlalu, a species that lacks erect pronotal hairs (present in A. palligastrion).

Shattuck (1991) - A. palligastrion is very similar to Axinidris nigripes, but can be separated based on its smaller size, shallower clypeal notch, and differing colour pattern (head and thorax dark, gaster light).

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Ghana (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

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

Known only from the worker caste.

Nomenclature

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

  • palligastrion. Axinidris palligastrion Shattuck, 1991: 118, figs. 29-31, 35 (w.) GHANA.
    • Status as species: Shattuck, 1994: 10; Bolton, 1995b: 77; Snelling, R.R. 2007: 571.

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

Description

Worker

(n=5). OOD 0.29-0.32, EL 0.26-0.30, HL 0.87-0.93, EW 0.12-0.14, HW 0.81-0.85, CNW 0.04-0.06, CND 0.05-0.06, SL 0.61-0.67, AL 1.05-1.16, PpW 0.42-0.45, SW 0.35-0.37, CI 0.91-0.94, CNI 1.07-1.34, REL 0.31-0.35, ScI 0.72-0.78, SpI 1.22-1.29. Erect hairs present on gastric tergites 1-4; body colour reddish brown, gaster lighter. Head finely punctate and superimposed with fine strigulate sculpture (stronger on the clypeus than posteriorly); the area near the mandibular insertion with a narrow area of strigulate sculpturing. Head with numerous short erect hairs distributed from the occipital border to the anterior clypeal margin. Erect and suberect hairs absent from antennal scapes. Entire alitrunk smooth to imbricate and very finely punctate, and with the area between the metanotal spiracles containing several short carina. Pronotum with 2-8 short, erect hairs. Propodeal spiracle as in Axinidris tridens. Medial propodeal carina expanded medially and located posterior of a line drawn between the propodeal spiracles to just anterior of the petiolar insertion. Propodeal spines directed postero-laterally, with the outer surfaces slightly concave, the distal ends approximately the same width as the maximum propodeal width, and the area between them more or less fiat. Erect hairs present on gastric tergites 1-4. Body colour reddish brown, the mandibles and tarsi slightly lighter, and the gaster yellowish red.

Type Material

Holotype worker and three worker paratypes from GHANA: Nswam (=Nsawam) (P.Room) (The Natural History Museum).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Shattuck S. O. 1991. Revision of the dolichoderine ant genus Axinidris (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 16: 105-120.
  • Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.