Dolichoderus feae

Dolichoderus feae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Dolichoderini
Genus:	Dolichoderus
Species:	D. feae
Binomial name
Dolichoderus feae Emery, 1889 Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Dolichoderus feae caligatus Wheeler, W.M., 1927 Dolichoderus feae fuscus Emery, 1889

Biological and ethological data are only available of the population from Northern Thailand. These ants nest in soil cavities, obviously deep in the ground. In contrast to all other known herdsmen Dolichoderus they are predominantly nocturnal. (Dill 2002)

Identification

Dill (2002) - A member of the Dolichoderus cuspidatus species group. Well defined by the shape of the alitrunk (± distinct “shoulders” of the pronotum, comparatively flat mesonotum, and steep propodeum with broad and ± sharp-edged and slightly overhanging transition between ascending and declivitous face) in connection with the general absence of a coarser sculpturing of the head (particularly at the sides). Especially, these characters allows an easy and clear distinction of feae from the sympatric Dolichoderus erectilobus and the geographical neighbours, Dolichoderus laotius, Dolichoderus tuberifer, and Dolichoderus cuspidatus. Strangely, the species that comes morphologically closest to feae is Dolichoderus modiglianii, only known from the Mentawei Islands off Sumatra's West Coast. The latter species differs from feae mainly in the sculpturing (moderate to distinct areolate-rugose sculpturing of the sides of the head; mesopleuron areolate-rugose instead of lengthy, ± parallel wrinkles like in feae), and in the more strongly overhanging propodeum. However, some feae populations from Southern Thailand show ± clinal transitions regarding the head sculpturing (see discussion of modiglianii).

D. feae is considerably variable in respect to size, colour, occurrence of a median superoccipital pit, and the depression of the posterior edge of the propodeum.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Dolichoderus cuspidatus group workers
• Key to Dolichoderus of China

Distribution

Dill (2002) - From the Eastern Himalayas (Northeast India: Sikkim [also additional reports by Datta et al. 1983] and Manipur [Manmohini Devi et al. 1987]), through Myanmar and Northern Thailand, and further along the mountain range of Tenasserim to the Isthmus of Kra.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 19.86666667° to 11.83333333°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: India, Myanmar (type locality), Thailand.
Palaearctic Region: China.

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.

Habitat

Dill (2002) - D. feae seems to be restricted to the evergreen mountain forests (above about 1,000 m a.s.l.) and occurs only occasionally in lower altitudes which are mostly covered by deciduous monsoon forest.

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Syntype of Dolichoderus feae fuscus. Worker. Specimen code casent0905021. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Worker. Specimen code casent0906207. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Nomenclature

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

• feae. Dolichoderus feae Emery, 1889b: 509, pl. 11, fig. 21 (w.) MYANMAR. Combination in D. (Hypoclinea): Emery, 1894c: 229. Senior synonym of caligatus, fuscus: Dill, 2002: 41.
• fuscus. Dolichoderus feae r. fusca Emery, 1889b: 509 (w.) MYANMAR. Subspecies of feae: Emery, 1913a: 14. Raised to species: Dalla Torre, 1893: 159; Bingham, 1903: 294; Wu & Wang, 1995: 121. Junior synonym of feae: Dill, 2002: 41.
• caligatus. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) feae var. caligatus Wheeler, W.M. 1927h: 99 (w.) THAILAND. Junior synonym of feae: Dill, 2002: 41.

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

Description

Worker

Dill (2002) - Lectotype in brackets: HL 1.24-1.57 [1.45]; HW 1.08-1.49 [1.29]; EL 0.31-0.37 [0.33]; SL 1.22-1.47 [1.41]; AL 1.69-2.25 [2.03]; PnW 0.69-1.00 [0.88]; ML 0.41-0.65 [0.65]; MW 0.31-0.49 [0.43]; PpL 0.69-1.00 [0.94]; PpW 0.49-0.78 [0.62]; PpH 0.53-0.69; PpSW 0.37-0.51 [0.51]; PtL 0.53-0.63; PtW 0.37-0.49 [0.45]; TL 4.88-6.79 [5.94]. Indices: CI 86-95 [89]; OI 24-29 [26]; SI 99-114 [109]; MI 117-169 [150]; PpSPpl 62-86 [83]; (n = 30).

Head: From reddish-brown to dark-brown or black. Densely and finely reticulate-punctate (= micro-imbricate; figs. III-60a-b); occasionally with somewhat coarser wrinkles around the eyes; rarely (e. g. material from Southern Thailand) with additional reticulate, subareolate wrinkles, that are restricted to the area between eyes and occipital margin. Entire head bearing a yellow to silver pubescence; no erect hairs. Head mostly slightly longer than wide; suboval; occipital margin slightly concavely emarginate; often with ± narrow, pinprick-like median superoccipital pit; often with an additional, pinprick- or slit-like impression at the median vertex (position of anterior ocellus).

Alitrunk: Coloration very variable, yellow-, red-, dark-brown or black. Entire alitrunk irregularly punctate or finely reticulate (= micro-imbricate); micro-sculpturing often superimposed by somewhat coarser wrinkles, which are either ± parallel (e. g. on mesopleuron, fig. III-60c) or irregularly areolate-rugose (e. g. dorsal face of propodeum or mesonotum). Light-grey pubescent; only ventral face and coxae with scarce erect hairs. “Shoulder”-corners of pronotum rounded yet ± distinct; dorsal face of pronotum even or slightly concave, with distinct lateral edges. Mesonotum, in profile, forming a very low, hardly ascending, flattened hump, mostly with a broad median and longitudinal impression between ± distinct lateral edges; posterior delimitation of mesonotum often indistinct. Propodeum, compared to mesonotum, strongly ascending; transition between ascending dorsal and declivitous face forming a distinct, ± angular edge that is medially impressed; declivitous face, in profile, initially curved slightly forward under the edge (i. e. posterior margin of dorsal face slightly overhangs the declivitous face), than bends down and backward (fig. III-8b); the lateral corners of the edge usually somewhat expanded; declivitous face ± smooth and shiny.

Petiole: Apical margin of scale usually entire, not emarginate; reticulate-punctate (= micro- imbricate) and pubescent.

Gaster: Finely reticulate (= micro-imbricate), with dense, fine, light-grey pubescence, which forms cowlicks and, particularly on 2nd and 3rd tergite, merges in a median line; thus, depending on the incidence of light, causing the impress ion of a striation of the gaster; erect hairs scarce and restricted to the ventral face and the tip.

Type Material

Dill (2002) - Syntype workers, Tenasserim, Mt. Mooleyit, 1,000-1,900 m (Fea) (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève) [examined]; Tenasserim, Plapoo (Fea) (Museum of Comparative Zoology) [examined]; Carin, Asciuii Cheba, 1,200-1,900 m (Fea) (MCZC) [examined]; Tenasserim: Kawkareet [not examined]; Tenasserim: mountains between the rivers Meekalan and Kyeat [not examined]. One syntype here designated as Lectotype (MCSN).

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. (page 41, Senior synonym of caligatus and fuscus)
• Emery, C. 1889c. Formiche di Birmania e del Tenasserim raccolte da Leonardo Fea (1885-87). [part]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 27[=(2)(7): 485-512 (page 509, pl. 11, fig. 21 worker described)
• Emery, C. 1894d. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. VI-XVI. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 26: 137-241 (page 229, Combination in D. (Hypoclinea))
• Hsu, F.-C., Tseng, S.-P., Hsu, P.-W., Lu, C.-W., Yang, C.-C.S., Lin, C.-C. 2022. Introduction of a non-native lineage is linked to the recent black cocoa ant, Dolichoderus thoracicus (Smith, 1860), outbreaks in Taiwan. Taiwania 67: 271‒279 (doi:10.6165/tai.2022.67.271).
• Khachonpisitsak, S., Yamane, S., Sriwichai, P., Jaitrong, W. 2020. An updated checklist of the ants of Thailand (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 998, 1–182 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.998.54902).
• Liu, C., Fischer, G., Hita Garcia, F., Yamane, S., Liu, Q., Peng, Y.Q., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Pierce, N.E. 2020. Ants of the Hengduan Mountains: a new altitudinal survey and updated checklist for Yunnan Province highlight an understudied insect biodiversity hotspot. ZooKeys 978, 1–171 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.978.55767).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Chapman, J. W., and Capco, S. R. 1951. Check list of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Asia. Monogr. Inst. Sci. Technol. Manila 1: 1-327
• Dill M. 2002. Taxonomy of the migrating herdsmen 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.; Maschwitz, U. 2002. Herdsmen ants and their mealybug partners. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft 557: 1-373.
• Emery C. 1913. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Dolichoderinae. Genera Insectorum 137: 1-50.
• Fontanilla A. M., A. Nakamura, Z. Xu, M. Cao, R. L. Kitching, Y. Tang, and C. J. Burwell. 2019. Taxonomic and functional ant diversity along tropical, subtropical, and subalpine elevational transects in southwest China. Insects 10, 128; doi:10.3390/insects10050128
• Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
• IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection
• Li Q., Z. Lu, Z. Wei, M. Yanyan, and F. Ping. 2015. Communities of ground-dwelling ants in different plantation forest in arid-hot valleys of Jinsha river, Yunnan Province, China. Scientia Silvae Sinicae 51(8): 134-142.
• Li Z.h. 2006. List of Chinese Insects. Volume 4. Sun Yat-sen University Press
• Mathew R. 2003. On Formicidae (Insecta: Hymenoptera) of Nongkhyllem Wild Life Sanctuary, Ri-Bhoi District, Meghalaya. Records of the Zoological Survey of India 101:195-207.
• Shattuck S. O. 1994. Taxonomic catalog of the ant subfamilies Aneuretinae and Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). University of California Publications in Entomology 112: i-xix, 1-241.
• Tiwari R. N., B. G. Kundu, S. Roy Chowdhury, and S. N. Ghosh. 2003. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Fauna of Sikkim. Part 4. State Fauna Series. 9.Zool.Surv.India. i-iii, 1-512. Chapter pagination: 467-506.
• Wheeler W. M. 1927. Ants collected by Professor F. Silvestri in Indochina. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della Reale Scuola Superiore d'Agricoltura. Portici 20: 83-106.
• Xu Z. H., B. L. Yang, and G. Hu. 1999. Formicidae ant communities in fragments of montane rain forest in Xishuangbanna, China. Zoological Research 20(4): 288-293.
• Xu Z. 2001. Two new species of the ant genus Dolichoderus Lund from Yunnan, China (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Acta Zootaxonomica Sinica 26(3): 355-360
• Yan X.B. 2007. A Taxonomy Study on the Ant Genus Dolichoderus Lunder (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Dolichoderinae) from China. Guangxi Normal University, Guangxi, China. 49 pages.