Centromyrmex feae ceylonicus

Centromyrmex feae ceylonicus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Ponerinae
Tribe:	Ponerini
Genus:	Centromyrmex
Species:	C. feae
Subspecies:	C. feae ceylonicus
Trinomial name
Centromyrmex feae ceylonicus Forel, 1900

Nothing is known about the biology of Centromyrmex feae ceylonicus.

Identification

A member of the feae species group / Key to Centromyrmex species groups

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Sri Lanka (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

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). ‎

Nomenclature

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

• ceylonicus. Centromyrmex feae var. ceylonicus Forel, 1900d: 303 (in text) (w.m.) SRI LANKA.
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated), 1 syntype male.
  • Type-locality: Sri Lanka (“Ceylan”): (no further data) (Yerbury).
  • Type-depositories: MHNG, NHMB.
  • [Misspelled as ceylonensis by Forel, 1911i: 215.]
  • Forel, 1900d: 303 (m.).
  • Subspecies of feae: Forel, 1900d: 303; Bingham, 1903: 95; Emery, 1911d: 58; Forel, 1911i: 215; Forel, 1913e: 660; Forel, 1913k: 7; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 52; Bolton, 1995b: 140; Bolton & Fisher, 2008c: 25; Dias, R.K.S. et al. 2020: 105.
  • Distribution: Sri Lanka.

Description

Worker

Bingham (1903): Dr. Forel has separated the Ceylon form as var. ceylonicus, "distinguished by its smaller size, by its mandibles almost without teeth on their masticatory margin, by its slightly shorter and thicker antennae, and by the node of the pedicel, which is much more transverse and squamiform, twice as broad as long (in C. feae it is only one and a half times as broad as long)."

Queen

Bingham (1903): "Reddish, moderately pubescent, Shining, Head and thorax rather strongly punctured. Abdomen smooth but for the minute piligerous tubercles or points."

Length: 4.5 - 5 mm

Male

Bingham (1903): With the characters of the genus. " Head and thorax somewhat shining, irregularly sculptured, abdomen smooth. Pilosity brownish, rather abundant. Black. Legs and antennae brown." (Forel.)

Length: 4.3 mm

References

• Forel, A. 1900f. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part VII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 13: 303-332 (page 303, worker, male described)