Brachymyrmex australis pullus

Brachymyrmex australis pullus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Myrmelachistini
Genus:	Brachymyrmex
Species:	B. australis
Subspecies:	B. australis pullus
Trinomial name
	Brachymyrmex australis pullus; Santschi, 1933

Ortiz-Sepulveda et al. (2019) did not include information on this species in their revision as the type series, consisting of a single worker, was destroyed and is not present in the Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel.

Identification

Ortiz-Sepulveda et al. (2019): As the type specimen is not available, we could only re-examine the morphological descriptions of Santschi (1933), from which we conclude that B. longicornis var. pullus seems to be morphologically similar to Brachymyrmex patagonicus and Brachymyrmex bruchi. Brachymyrmex longicornis var. pullus has a shiny body that is black or dark brownish, the scapes surpass the posterior margin of the head, it has large eyes that occupy a third of the sides of the head, and the thorax would have been similar to that of B. longicornis which indicates that the mesonotum did not bulge dorsally above the pronotum in lateral view. Santschi (1933) did not describe the pubescence on the gaster, and so in the above we consider the pubescence to be similar to that of typical B. longicornis (here synonymized to Brachymyrmex australis), B. longicornis var. hemiops (here synonymized to Brachymyrmex aphidicola), and B. longicornis var. immunis (here synonymized to Brachymyrmex admotus). If this assumption were not true, B. longicornis var. pullus would resemble Brachymyrmex cordemoyi and Brachymyrmex obscurior more than B. bruchi and B. patagonicus.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -27.562° to -27.562°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Neotropical Region: Argentina (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.

Biology

Castes

Nomenclature

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

pullus. Brachymyrmex longicornis var. pullus Santschi, 1933e: 122 (w.) ARGENTINA (Misiones).
- Type-material: holotype worker.
- Type-locality: Argentina: Misiones, Profundidad, no. 1941 (A.A. Ogloblin).
- Type-depository: unknown (not in NHMB).
- [Note: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 533, record that the NHMB holotype was destroyed in the past, and its original description is inadequate for taxonomic purposes.]
- Subspecies of longicornis: Kempf, 1972a: 40; Bolton, 1995b: 82.
- Subspecies of australis: Ortiz-Sepulveda et al., 2019: 533 (by implication, as longicornis synonymised with australis).
- Unidentifiable taxon; incertae sedis in Brachymyrmex: Ortiz-Sepúlveda, et al. 2019: 533.
- Distribution: Argentina.

Description

References

Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 82, catalogue)
Ortiz-Sepulveda, C.M., Van Bocxlaer, B., Meneses, A.D., Fernández, F. 2019. Molecular and morphological recognition of species boundaries in the neglected ant genus Brachymyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): toward a taxonomic revision. Organisms Diversity & Evolution 19, 447–542 (doi:10.1007/s13127-019-00406-2).
Santschi, F. 1933f. Fourmis de la République Argentine en particulier du territoire de Misiones. An. Soc. Cient. Argent. 116: 105-124 (page 122, worker described)