Epelysidris

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Epelysidris
Epelysidris brocha
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Epelysidris
Bolton, 1987
Type species
Epelysidris brocha
Diversity
1 species
(Species Checklist, Species by Country)

Monomorium brocha casent0102361 profile 1.jpg

Monomorium brocha casent0102361 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

The single species of this genus, Epelysidris brocha, is known from workers that have been found in the soil of a moss forest and tropical rainforest (as stated on the labels from the two known collections).

At a Glance • Monotypic  

Identification

Bolton (1987) - Epelysidris is easily diagnosed among members of the Solenopsis-group by the remarkable pair of lobes on the basal border of each mandible, unknown in any other genus of the group. The structure of the mandibles and clypeus together, combined with the 3,2 palp formula, isolates Epelysidris from all other myrmicine ant genera.

Ito and Yamane 2014. Fig. 1. Colony fragment of Epelysidris brocha collected in the Bogor Botanic Garden. EQ: ergatoid queen, W: worker

Conversely characters regarded as apomorphic in Epelysidris include the development of lobes on the mandibular basal margin, the presence of large triangular teeth on the anterior clypeal margin, and the development of narrow cuticular crests down each side of the propodeal declivity. The M. modestus-group is plesiomorphic in these, with unarmed basal mandibular margins, lacking clypeal teeth, and lacking cuticular crests on the propodeal declivity.

The real affinities of Epelysidris appear to lie with Monomorium and its immediate allies, from which it has evolved by gross modification and specialization of the mandibles and clypeus. Differences in the mandible between Epelysidris and those Monomorium species with 5 teeth include lengthening and narrowing of the blade in the former and the opening of diastemata between the teeth following the preapical, and the autapomorphic development of lobes on the basal border. In the case of the clypeus Epelysidris has modified the median portion by narrowing and raising it up very markedly, and narrowing its posterior section between the antennal insertions. The pair of longitudinal clypeal carinae, characteristic of Monomorium, is very reduced and fades out anteriorly in Epelysidris. On the other hand the pair of teeth on the anterior clypeal margin, which mark the apices of the clypeal carinae in many Monomorium species, are very much enlarged in Epelysidris and are divorced from the carinae altogether.

Male character matrix of Solenopsidini genera that are superficially analogous to Unicumyrmex (Chung et al. (2025), Table 3)
Genus Palp formula: number of maxillary palps, number of labial palps Number of mandible teeth Distance between antennal socket Antennal socket Number of antennal segments Antennal scape exceeding lateral margin of compound eyes Head shape Lower metapleuron Petiole and postpetiole with laterally projecting spins
Anillomyrma 4,3 1/3 apart from each other exposed 13 absent rectangular not fused absent
Bondroitia 2,2 2-3 apart from each other exposed 12-13 absent rectangular not fused absent
Dolopomyrmex 2,1 4 apart from each other partially covered by frontal lobe 11 present rectangular not fused present
Epelysidris – 3 closely approximated exposed 13 absent rounded fused with propodeum absent
Erromyrma 5,3 4 apart from each other partially covered by frontal lobe 13 absent triangular fused with propodeum absent
Monomorium 1,1/2,2 1-4 apart from each other partially covered by frontal lobe 11-13 absent rectangular fused with propodeum absent
Solenopsis 1,2 1-3 apart from each other partially covered by frontal lobe 12-13 absent triangular fused with propodeum absent
Unicumyrmex 2,2 1-2 closely approximated exposed 12 absent triangular fused with propodeum absent
Data sources: Anillomyrma - Yamane & Jaitrong (2019), Bondroitia - Bolton (1987), Dolopomyrmex - Cover & Deyrup (2007), Epelysidris - Ito & Yamane (2014), Erromyrma - Ramamonjisoa & al. (2023), Monomorium - DuBois (1986), Solenopsis - Pitts & al. (2018), Unicumyrmex - Chung et al (2025).
  • Chung et al. (2025), Fig. 27: Workers of Unicumyrmex and three phylogenetically related genera. The illustrations were accessed from AntWeb (2023). A - C, Unicumyrmex fushanensis (NCUESIL002532); D - F, Epelysidris brocha (CASENT0102361, April Nobile); G - I, Erromyrma latinodis (CASENT0107541, April Nobile); J - L, Tyrannomyrmex legatus (CASENT0106177, Michael Branstetter).
  • Chung et al. (2025), Fig. 31: Forewings of male ants. A, Unicumyrmex fushanensis illustration newly drawn in this study; B, Anillomyrma decamera, illustration newly drawn in this study, specimen from S. Yamane (TH18-SKY-262); C, Bondroitia lujae, illustration redrawn from Bolton (1987); D, Dolopomyrmex pilatus, illustration redrawn from the original publication (Cover & Deyrup 2007); E, Epelysidris brocha, illustration drawn from the image of Ito & Yamane (2014); F, Erromyrma latinodis, illustration drawn from the image (CASENT0788835) of Ramamonjisoa & al. (2023); G, Monomorium chinense, illustration newly drawn in this study; H, Solenopsis geminata, illustration newly drawn in this study.
AntWeb icon 02.png See images of species within this genus

Keys including this Genus

 

Distribution

Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps

Species by Region

Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.

Afrotropical Region Australasian Region Indo-Australian Region Malagasy Region Nearctic Region Neotropical Region Oriental Region Palaearctic Region
Species 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Total Species 2851 1736 3047 932 840 4391 1767 2925

Biology

See the biology section of Epelysidris brocha for observations of the only collected colony of this genus.

Castes

Morphology

Worker Morphology

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 • Eyes: 2-10 ommatidia • Pronotal Spines: absent • Mesonotal Spines: absent • Propodeal Spines: absent • Petiolar Spines: absent • Caste: none or weak • Sting: present • Metaplural Gland: present • Cocoon: absent

Phylogeny

Myrmicinae
Myrmicini
Pogonomyrmecini
Stenammini
Solenopsidini
⊟
Attini
Crematogastrini

See Phylogeny of Myrmicinae for details.

Nomenclature

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

  • EPELYSIDRIS [Myrmicinae: Solenopsidini]
    • Epelysidris Bolton, 1987: 279. Type-species: Epelysidris brocha, by original designation.
    • Epelysidris junior synonym of Monomorium: Fernández, in Heterick, 2006: 79; Fernández, 2007b: 130.
    • Epelysidris revived from synonymy: Ward et al., 2014: 15.

Description

Worker

Bolton (1987) - Monomorphic myrmicine ants. Palp formula 3.2 . Mandibles elongate-triangular, the masticatory margin with 5 sharp teeth which scarcely decrease in size from preapical to basal; preapical to basal teeth separated by diastemata . Basal border of mandible equipped with two broad-based bluntly triangular lobes, the first close to the basalmost sharp tooth and the second near the trulleum. Trulleum large, deformed-triangular in shape and narrowly open below base of second lobe on mandibular basal margin. Anterior clypeal margin with a pair of stout triangular teeth. Median clypeal seta present . Anterior tentorial pits about half way between antennal sockets and lateral margins of head. Median portion of clypeus narrow and conspicuously raised, the convex raised section feebly bicarinate posteriorly and the carinae tending to fade out anteriorly. Antennal insertions close together, the width of the posterior portion of the clypeus where it passes between the frontal lobes approximately equal to the width of one of the frontal lobes . Antennae 12-segmented with a strongly differentiated club of 3 segments. Frontal carinae and antennal scrobes absent. Eyes present, small , situated at the midlength of the sides. Promesonotum strongly convex, without dorsal sutures. Metanotal groove present and impressed. Propodeal spiracle large and circular, close to the midlength of the sclerite. Metapleural glands of moderate size, not hypertrophied. Propodeum unarmed but a narrow longitudinal cuticular rim or crest present where dorsum meets declivity, the crest continued down each side of the declivity to the small rounded metapleural lobes. Declivity without a transverse carina linking the dorsalmost points of the metapleural lobes . Petiole with a long anterior peduncle which is subtended by a narrow elongate ventral processes . Petiolar spiracle at the node. Nodes of both petiole and postpetiole strongly developed, shaped as in Fig. 16. Sting long and strong, somewhat flattened and subspatulate apically.

References

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