Bothroponera cavernosa

Bothroponera cavernosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Ponerinae
Tribe:	Ponerini
Genus:	Bothroponera
Species group:	pumicosa
Species:	B. cavernosa
Binomial name
Bothroponera cavernosa (Roger, 1860) Specimen labels

Known from a few collections from South Africa, little is known about the biology of this species.

Identification

Joma and Mackay (2015) - A member of the Bothroponera pumicosa species complex. The main distinguishing character of the worker B. cavernosa is the lack of foveolae on the second tergum of the gaster, which is rough and covered with short hairs. The worker is large (total length 12 mm). The anterior margin of the clypeus is “v” shaped and covered with fine striae. The anterior medial area of the clypeus is raised, covered with longitudinal striae and coarsely punctate on the sides with an incomplete clypeal carina. The mandibles are rough, moderately shiny and covered with striae. The scape extends slightly past the posterior lateral border of the head. The frontal lobes are sculptured and covered with striae. The frons is weakly striated. The propodeal spiracle is parallel to the posteropropodeal margin. The petiole is rounded and slightly narrowed anteriorly while it is vertical, slightly concave posteriorly (seen from above).

Bothroponera cavernosa is very easy to recognize as it is one of the five species in the Bothroponera pumicosa species complex with a specific form of the tergum of the 4th segment of the abdomen (2nd gastral tergite), that is rough and covered with short hairs. The other species are Bothroponera laevissima, Bothroponera aspera, Bothroponera umgodikulula and Bothroponera montivaga. The 2nd gastral segment of B. umgodikulula is mostly smooth and glossy, similar to that of B. aspera and B. laevissima, while in Bothroponera montivaga it is smooth with few shallow scattered punctures and is moderately shiny. The head shape of B. cavernosa, B. aspera, and B. laevissima is suborbicular while it is subquadrate in B. umgodikulula and B. montivaga. The other important differences between B. cavernosa, B. umgodikulula and B. montivaga compared to B. laevissima and B. aspera is that the body surface is heavily sculptured with foveolae in B. cavernosa, B. umgodikulula and B. montivaga while it is black, nearly smooth and shiny in B. laevissima and B. aspera with a few scattered punctures in B. aspera. Bothroponera cavernosa and B. umgodikulula both share all of the characteristics of B. montivaga except for the propodeal spiracle, which is obliquely vertical in B. montivaga and B. cavernosa while it is horizontal in B. umgodikulula. The anterior medial area of the clypeus is raised and does not form a complete clypeal carina in B. cavernosa (it is partially carinated). On the other hand, the anterior medial area of the clypeus of B. umgodikulula and B. montivaga is mostly smooth, and does not form carinae and in some specimens of B. montivaga the carina is only on the upper part of the anterior medial raised area of the clypeus while the lower part is smooth.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Bothroponera pumicosa species complex
• Key to Ethiopian Bothroponera

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -26.96667° to -34.26667°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: South Africa (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.

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.

Castes

Worker

.	Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Male

.

Nomenclature

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

• cavernosa. Ponera cavernosa Roger, 1860: 288 (w.) SOUTH AFRICA.
  • Type-material: holotype worker.
  • Type-locality: South Africa (“Africa im Kaffernlande”): (no further data) (Drège).
  • Type-depository: MNHU.
  • Combination in Pachycondyla (Bothroponera): Emery, 1901a: 45;
  • combination in Pachycondyla: Brown, in Bolton, 1995b: 304;
  • combination in Bothroponera: Mayr, 1862: 717; Roger, 1863b: 16; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 72; Joma & Mackay, 2013: 3; Schmidt, C.A. & Shattuck, 2014: 76.
  • Status as species: Roger, 1863b: 16; Mayr, 1863: 397; Dalla Torre, 1893: 36; Emery, 1911d: 76; Arnold, 1915: 60; Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 72 (in key), 769; Arnold, 1947: 132; Arnold, 1952a: 461 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 303; Joma & Mackay, 2015: 549 (redescription).
  • Distribution: South Africa.

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

Description

Worker

Joma and Mackay (2015) - (n=1), HL 3.00, HW 2.70, ML 1.45, EW 0.40, EL 0.45, SL 2.10, FL 3.60, WL 4.15, WPL 4.70, PL 1.15, PW 1.45, PH 1.75, CI 90, OI 17, MI 48.33, SI 78, PI 126.08. Head suborbiculate; mandibles covered with fine striae, with 7 teeth; clypeus covered with striae, anterior medial area raised to form discontinuous carina, coarsely punctate and rough on sides, clypeal length 2.35 mm; scape extends slightly past posterior border of head; maximum frontal lobe width 1.10 mm; length of malar space 0.55 mm; length from upper edge of eye to edge of posterior lobe 1.40 mm; pronotal shoulder rounded anteriorly, lower margin of pronotum straight with rounded anteroinferior pronotal process, pointed inferior pronotal process; basilar sclerite oval shaped; head mostly foveolate; antennae rough, scape covered with tiny shallow punctures, legs shiny; entire dorsum of mesosoma foveolate and rough; mesopleuron, lateropropodeum foveolate; metapleuron, lateropropodeum covered with coarse striae and grooves orientated perpendicular to posteropropodeal margin; dorsum of petiole and postpetiole coarsely foveolate and more punctate than other body parts; metapleuron and lateropropodeum covered with striae that have perpendicular orientation with posteropropodeal lateral margin; entire head, pronotum, mesonotum, propodeum, petiole, postpetiole covered with short erect golden hairs (up to 0.20 mm), on head, antennae, mandibles (0.03 - 0.08 mm in length), on pronotum, mesonotum, propodeum (up to 0.10 mm length), on petiole, postpetiole (0.13 - 0.15 mm in length); sternopostpetiolar process and 4th to 7th abdominal segments covered with relatively short (0.20 mm) erect golden hairs; head, mesosoma, petiole, 3rd - 7th abdominal segments black; mandibles, clypeus, appendages brownish red.

Type Material

Joma and Mackay (2015) - SOUTH AFRICA: Eastern Cape Province, Caffraria Drege, farm, 27°48’0’’ S; 25°7’0’’ E, Bothroponera cavernosa Roger, Mayr (1 w # 7165 GBIF-D/ FoCol 0955, holotype, MfN).

References

• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1995a. [Untitled. Taxonomic changes in Pachycondyla attributed to Brown.] Pp. 302-311 in: Bolton, B. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 304, Combination in Pachycondyla)
• Emery, C. 1901b. Notes sur les sous-familles des Dorylines et Ponérines (Famille des Formicides). Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 45: 32-54 (page 45, Combination in Pachycondyla (Bothroponera))
• Joma, A.M.A. & Mackay, W.P. 2015. Revision of the African ants of the Bothroponera pumicosa species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae). Sociobiology 62: 538-563 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v62i4.845).
• Joma, A.M.A., Mackay, W.P. 2020. Revision of the African ants of the Bothroponera talpa species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society 146: 355-408. (doi:10.3157/061.146.0206).
• Mayr, G. 1862. Myrmecologische Studien. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 12: 649-776 (page 717, Combination in Bothroponera)
• Roger, J. 1860. Die Ponera-artigen Ameisen. Berl. Entomol. Z. 4: 278-312 (page 288, worker described)
• Schmidt, C.A. & Shattuck, S.O. 2014. The higher classification of the ant subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a review of ponerine ecology and behavior. Zootaxa 3817, 1–242 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1).
• Wheeler, W. M. 1922b. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. II. The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 45: 39-269 (page 72, Combination in Bothroponera)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Arnold G. 1915. A monograph of the Formicidae of South Africa. Part I. Ponerinae, Dorylinae. Annals of the South African Museum 14: 1-159.
• Arnold G. 1947. New species of African Hymenoptera. No. 7. Occasional Papers of the National Museum of Southern Rhodesia. 2: 131-167.
• Botes, A., M.A. McGeoch, H.G. Robertson, A. van Niekerk, H.P. Davids and S.L. Chown. 2006. Ants, altitude and change in the northern Cape Floristic Region. Journal of Biogeography 33:71-90
• Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. VIII. A synonymic list of the ants of the Ethiopian region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 711-1004