Dolichoderus crawleyi
Dolichoderus crawleyi | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hymenoptera |
Family: | Formicidae |
Subfamily: | Dolichoderinae |
Tribe: | Dolichoderini |
Genus: | Dolichoderus |
Species: | D. crawleyi |
Binomial name | |
Dolichoderus crawleyi Donisthorpe, 1917 |
Creates carton nests on the underside of leaves of standing vegetation.
Identification
Dill (2002) - A member of the Dolichoderus sulcaticeps species group. Typically, D. crawleyi is black and shining; its head and alitrunk are, in addition to a finely reticulate fine-sculpturing, ± coarsely wrinkled, forming shallow pits. This coarser sculpturing is lacking on the median portions of pronotum and mesonotum. The gaster is densely pubescent. D. crawleyi differs from typical Dolichoderus patens in its coloration (reddish-yellow in patens), its coarser sculpturing, and its much denser gaster pubescence. The surface sculpturing also distinguishes crawleyi from the remaining species of the Dolichoderus sulcaticeps group: sutcaticeps and Dolichoderus siggii, on the one hand, are distinctly smoother, Dolichoderus semirugosus, on the other hand, is more coarsely sculptured (areolate-reticulate). Regarding the surface sculpturing, crawleyi, at least partly, seems to fall within the fringe of the range of the intraspecific variability of patens. Since coloration and pubescence are largely similar to the type material of patens pubiventris from the Mentawei Islands, it appears possible, that crawleyi is actually a junior synonym of patens pubiventris.
Distribution
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Singapore (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
Dill (2002) - Donisthorpe’s (1917) observation of crawleyi nesting in a species of the myrmecophytic genus Macaranga (Euphorbiaceae) is doubtful. This observation is inconsistent with own observations of crawleyi forming carton nests similar to those of patens and sulcaticeps. It also contradicts the extensive studies of the Macaranga-ant relationships in Southeast Asia (e. g. see Fiala et al. 1991) which was never found in Macaranga plants inhabited by Dolichoderus.
Castes
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- crawleyi. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) crawleyi Donisthorpe, 1917: 201 (w.q.) SINGAPORE.
Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.
Description
Type Material
Dill (2002) - Workers, queen, Malay Peninsula: Singapore (E. E. Green) (The Natural History Museum).
References
- Dill, M. 2002. Taxonomy of the migrating herdsman species of the genus Dolichoderus Lund, 1831, with remarks on the systematics of other Southeast-Asian Dolichoderus. Pp. 17-113 in: Dill, M., Williams, D. J. and U. Maschwitz. 2002. Herdsmen ants and their mealybug partners. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main. 557:1-373.
- Donisthorpe, H. 1917d. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) crawleyi n. sp., a species of ant new to science; with a few notes on the genus. Entomol. Rec. J. Var. 29: 201-202 (page 201, worker, queen described)
- Wang, W.Y., Soh, E.J.Y., Yong, G.W.J., Wong, M.K.L., Benoit Guénard, Economo, E.P., Yamane, S. 2022. Remarkable diversity in a little red dot: a comprehensive checklist of known ant species in Singapore (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with notes on ecology and taxonomy. Asian Myrmecology 15: e015006 (doi:10.20362/am.015006).