Dolichoderus crawleyi

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Dolichoderus crawleyi
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

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Specimen Labels

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

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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.
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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.
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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