Dolichoderus sulcaticeps

Dolichoderus sulcaticeps
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Dolichoderini
Genus:	Dolichoderus
Species:	D. sulcaticeps
Binomial name
Dolichoderus sulcaticeps (Mayr, 1870) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Dolichoderus sulcaticeps nigriventris Santschi, 1920

Viehmeyer 1916: 141-142 Singapore: carton nests containing brood and scale insects on the undersurface of leaves; Karawajew 1926: 428-430[Java: large colonies, nests built out of soil on the ground or on rocks, many queens; Franz 1975b: 265 Java: nests in soil; Rohe 1990, 1991 Peninsular Malaysia: multi-chambered nest pavilions made of tough carton material on the undersurface of leaves; data on nest construction; trophobiotic partners (pseudococcids, aphids, membracids) kept inside and outside nest pavilions; Dill (2002) – personal observations (Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo): very large colonies with extremely long trail systems (e.g. length of a single trail > 130 m), multi-chambered, pavilion nests on leaves of different plant species; many alate queens inside pavilions; different species of trophobiotic partners (Pseudococcidae: Cataenococcus hispidus (Morrison), Pseudococcus cryptus Hempel, Rastrococcus vicorum Williams; Margarodidae: Crypticerya sp. ; Coccidae: Drepanococcus sp.; Aphidoidea; Membracidae: Ebhul varius (Walker), Centroyypus sp.) kept in side and outs ide the pavilions; transport of these trophobionts between pavilions, also over large distances; collecting bird feces. Heterick & Kitching (2022) collected this species in a ground malaise trap within a lowland dipterocarp forest in Brunei.

Identification

Dill (2002) - A member of the Dolichoderus sulcaticeps species group. The typical D. sulcaticeps is strongly shining, its entire body surface smooth or very finely reticulate, sometimes with a very fine, scattered punctation; only mesopleuron and the sides of the propodeum are slightly coarser wrinkled. The entire body is black, often except the tip of the gaster which is yellow or red in these cases. The expansion of this reddish coloration is highly variable, ranging from an entirely black to an entirely reddish gaster. The pubescense is very sparse.

D. sulcaticeps seems to be relatively well defined. The morphologically nearest species is Dolichoderus siggii, which seems to differ in its coloration and the shape of its petiolar scale.

The type material of D. nigriventris (= D. sulcaticeps) differs from the type of the species in a slightly more distinctly developed frontal furrow, a shallowly emarginate petioles scale, and the black colour of the entire gaster. All of these characters are subject to considerable intraspecific variation.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 12.566667° to -2.183333°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: Borneo (type locality), Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore.
Oriental Region: Thailand, Vietnam.

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.

Nomenclature

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

• sulcaticeps. Hypoclinea sulcaticeps Mayr, 1870b: 957 (diagnosis in key) (w.) BORNEO. Viehmeyer, 1916a: 141 (q.m.); Karavaiev, 1926d: 428 (q.m.). Combination in Dolichoderus: Emery, 1887a: 254; in D. (Hypoclinea): Emery, 1894c: 229. See also: Bingham, 1903: 293. Senior synonym of nigriventris: Dill, 2002: 60.
• nigriventris. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) sulcaticeps var. nigriventris Santschi, 1920h: 171 (w.) VIETNAM. [Unresolved junior primary homonym of nigriventris Forel, above.] [Also described as new by Santschi, 1924c: 111.] Junior synonym of sulcaticeps: Dill, 2002: 60.

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

Type Material

Dill (2002) - Workers, Borneo: Sarawak (Doira) (The Natural History Museum, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève, Naturhistorisches Museum Wien, Vienna) [description in key]. Syntypes.

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 60, Senior synonym of nigriventris)
• Barabag, Z., Jaitrong, W. 2022. A new species of the ant genus Dolichoderus Lund, 1831 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Thailand. Sociobiology, 69(1), e6247 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v69i1.6247).
• Bingham, C. T. 1903. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera, Vol. II. Ants and Cuckoo-wasps. London: Taylor and Francis, 506 pp. (page 293, see also)
• Emery, C. 1887b [1886]. Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia. [part]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 24[=(2)(4): 241-256 (page 254, Combination in Dolichoderus)
• Emery, C. 1894d. Studi sulle formiche della fauna neotropica. VI-XVI. Bull. Soc. Entomol. Ital. 26: 137-241 (page 229, Combination in D. (Hypoclinea))
• Heterick, B.E., Kitching, R.L. 2022. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of a one-hectare plot of lowland dipterocarp forest. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 158(4), 261–272 (doi:10.31184/m00138908.1584.4153).
• Karavaiev, V. 1926d. Ameisen aus dem Indo-Australischen Gebiet. Treubia 8: 413-445 (page 428, queen, male described)
• 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).
• Kreider, J.J., Chen, T.W., Hartke, T.R., Buchori, D., Hidayat, P., Nazarreta, R., Scheu, S., Drescher, J. 2021. Rainforest conversion to monocultures favors generalist ants with large colonies. Ecosphere 12 (doi:10.1002/ecs2.3717).
• Mayr, G. 1870b. Neue Formiciden. Verh. K-K. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 20: 939-996 (page 957, (diagnosis in key) worker described)
• Viehmeyer, H. 1916a [1915]. Ameisen von Singapore. Beobachtet und gesammelt von H. Overbeck. Arch. Naturgesch. (A) 81(8): 108-168 (page 141, queen, male 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).
• Yamane, S., Tanaka, H.O., Hasimoto, Y., Ohashi, M., Meleng, P., Itioka, T. 2021. A list of ants from Lambir Hills National Park and its vicinity, with their biological information: Part II. Subfamilies Leptanillinae, Proceratiinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Dorylinae, Dolichoderinae, Ectatomminae and Formicinae. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University 31, 87–157.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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• 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.
• Dill M., D.J. Williams, and U. Maschwitz. 2002. Herdsmen ants and their mealybug partners. Abh. senckenberg. naturforsch. Ges. 557: 1-373.
• Emery C. 1887. Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia. [part]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 24(4): 209-258.
• Emery C. 1913. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Dolichoderinae. Genera Insectorum 137: 1-50.
• Emery, C.. "Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 4, no. 24 (1887): 209-258.
• Emery, C.. "Formiche raccolte da Elio Modigliani in Sumatra, Engano e Mentawei." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 20, no. 40 (1900): 661-722.
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• Jaitrong W.; Nabhitabhata, J. 2005. A list of known ant species of Thailand. The Thailand Natural History Museum Journal 1(1): 9-54.
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• Robson Simon Ant Collection, 05-Sept-2014
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