Dolichoderus sulcaticeps

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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)

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Specimen Labels

Synonyms

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

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

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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

Castes

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.

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

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • André E. 1892. Voyage de M. Chaper à Bornéo. Catalogue des fourmis et description des espèces nouvelles. Mém. Soc. Zool. Fr. 5: 46-55.
  • Baroni Urbani C. 1977. Katalog der Typen von Formicidae (Hymenoptera) der Sammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums Basel (2. Teil). Mitt. Entomol. Ges. Basel (n.s.) 27: 61-102.
  • 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.
  • Floren A., W. Wetzel, and M. Staab. 2013. The contribution of canopy species to overall ant diversity (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in temperate and tropical ecosystems. – Myrmecological News 19: 65-74.
  • Forel A. 1895. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part V. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 9: 453-472.
  • Ito, F.; Yamane, S.; Eguchi, K.; Noerdjito, W. A.; Kahono, S.; Tsuji, K.; Ohkawara, K.; Yamauchi, K.; Nishida, T.; Nakamura, K. 2001. Ant species diversity in the Bogor Botanic Garden, West Java, Indonesia, with descriptions of two new species of the genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Tropics 10:379-404.
  • Jaitrong W., and T. Ting-Nga. 2005. Ant fauna of Peninsular Botanical Garden (Khao Chong), Trang Province, Southern Thailand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The Thailand Natural History Museum Journal 1(2): 137-147.
  • Jaitrong W.; Nabhitabhata, J. 2005. A list of known ant species of Thailand. The Thailand Natural History Museum Journal 1(1): 9-54.
  • Karavaiev V. 1926. Ameisen aus dem Indo-Australischen Gebiet. Treubia 8: 413-445.
  • Ogata K. 2005. Asian ant inventory and international networks. Report on Insect inventory Project in Tropic Asia TAIIV: 145-170.
  • Pfeiffer M.; Mezger, D.; Hosoishi, S.; Bakhtiar, E. Y.; Kohout, R. J. 2011. The Formicidae of Borneo (Insecta: Hymenoptera): a preliminary species list. Asian Myrmecology 4:9-58
  • Robson Simon Ant Collection, 05-Sept-2014
  • Santschi F. 1920. Fourmis d'Indo-Chine. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 60: 158-176.
  • Santschi F. 1924. Fourmis d'Indochine. Opuscules de l'Institut Scientifique de l'Indochine 3: 95-117
  • 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.
  • Zryanin V. A. 2011. An eco-faunistic review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). In: Structure and functions of soil communities of a monsoon tropical forest (Cat Tien National Park, southern Vietnam) / A.V. Tiunov (Editor). – M.: KMK Scientific Press. 2011. 277 р.101-124.