Centromyrmex ereptor

Centromyrmex ereptor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Ponerinae
Tribe:	Ponerini
Genus:	Centromyrmex
Species:	C. ereptor
Binomial name
	Centromyrmex ereptor; Bolton & Fisher, 2008 Specimen labels

Nothing is known about the biology of Centromyrmex ereptor.

Identification

A member of the feae species group. Resembling Centromyrmex longiventris but larger and with a much more shallowly sloped anterior propodeum.

Keys including this Species

Key to Afrotropical Centromyrmex species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 3° to -2.050343°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Central African Republic (type locality), Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon.

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

Explore Overview of Centromyrmex biology

All of the species in the genus appear to be termitophagous and all are superbly adapted to this specialised predatory life style. Observations of some species have found them to be rather helpless when placed in an exposed, open situation. Weber described what happened when he found a worker “just beneath the soil surface under a thin cover of dead leaves”. The ant was “completely helpless when exposed to the daylight and writhed about when placed on the ground or in my palm. It made no attempt to run away, curling and uncurling without stinging, though it had a long, stout sting”. In other words, it seemed unable to walk when removed from its specialised habitat and placed on a surface where it could not use its specialised legs. If not discovered within a termite nest, individuals are occasionally found in the top soil or the root-mat below the leaf litter layer, where their short, powerful, spiny legs facilitate their movement. (Weber 1949, Bolton and Fisher 2008).

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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.

ereptor. Centromyrmex ereptor Bolton & Fisher, 2008c: 18, figs. 13, 14 (w.) CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC.
- Type-material: holotype worker .
- Type-locality: Central African Republic: Res. Dzanga-Sangha, 12.7 km. 326° NW Bayanga, 3°00’N, 16°12’E, 420 m., 10-17.v.2001, #4083, CASENT 0081171, pitfall trap, rainforest (B.L. Fisher).
- Type-depository: CASC.
- Distribution: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon.

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

Description

Worker

Holotype. TL 4.5, HL 0.81, HW 0.79, CI 98, ML 0.52, MI 64, SL 0.57, SI 72, PW 0.62, WL 1.31.

With characters of the genus and the feae group. Head capsule in full-face view appears about as long as broad, or slightly longer than broad, CI 98–101 in material examined. Mandibles smooth with scattered minute punctures. Masticatory margin of mandible weakly crenulate. Basal angle of mandible rounded, without a differentiated basal tooth. Dorsum of head with scattered punctures on smooth cuticle; the punctures on sides of head denser than on dorsum, and also with weak striation within the antennal fossae and on the sides, especially anteriorly. Metatibia with only normal setae dorsally but its anterior surface, at the apex and approximately opposite the pectinate spur, with two much stouter spiniform seta with bases close together. With mesosoma in profile the dorsal outline of the propodeum slopes only shallowly downward from the mesonotum; the more or less flat mesonotum passes into the sloping propodeum through a smooth, shallow curve. Petiole node in dorsal view broader than long. Pronotal dorsum with distinct broad, shallow foveolate punctures, the spaces between them with weakly rugulose superficial sculpture. Anterior mesonotum also with a few widely scattered broad, shallow punctures, but these are more sparse and less distinct than on the pronotum. Colour a light brownish yellow.

Non-paratypic. TL 4.5-4.6, HL 0.78-0.82, HW 0.79-0.81, CI 99-101, ML 0.48-0.52, MI 59-64, SL 0.57-0.58, SI 72-74, PW 0.62-0.64, WL 1.30-1.34 (3 measured). As holotype.

Holotype Specimen Labels

Type Material

Holotype worker, Central African Republic: Res. Dzanga-Sangha, 12.7 km. 326º NW Bayanga, 3º00’N, 16º12’E, 420 m., 10–17.v.2001, #4083, CASENT 0081171, pitfall trap, rainforest (B.L. Fisher) (California Academy of Sciences).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Bolton B., and B. L. Fisher. 2008. Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera Centromyrmex Mayr, Promyopias Santschi gen. rev. and Feroponera gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 1929: 1-37.
Bolton, B., and B. L. Fisher. "Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera Centromyrmex Mayr, Promyopias Santschi gen. rev. and Feroponera gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Zootaxa 1929 (2008): 1-37. Abstract