Leptanilla escheri

Leptanilla escheri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Leptanillinae
Tribe:	Leptanillini
Genus:	Leptanilla
Species:	L. escheri
Binomial name
	Leptanilla escheri; (Kutter, 1948)

Identification

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 11.37419° to 11.37419°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: India (type locality).

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.

Biology

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb


Syntype of Leptanilla escheri. Worker. Specimen code casent0907607. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MZL, Lausanne, Switzerland.


Worker. Specimen code antweb1008003. Photographer H. Bharti, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by PUN, Punjabi University, Patiala, India.

Qian et al. (2024), Fig. 37: Leptanilla escheri syntype worker. (A, D) head in full-face view; (B, E) body in lateral view; (C, F) body in dorsal view. (A - C) illustrations redrawn from Baroni Urbani (1977); (D - F) images from AntWeb (2023), CASENT 0907607, photos by Will Ericson.

Nomenclature

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

escheri. Leptomesites escheri Kutter, 1948: 287, figs. 1-4 (w.q.l.) INDIA. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1965: 31 (l.). Combination in Leptanilla: Baroni Urbani, 1977c: 462. See also: Bharti & Kumar, 2012c: 623.

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

Description

Worker

Bharti & Kumar (2012) - HL 0.38–0.39, HW 0.27–0.28, SL 0.19, ML 0.07, MSL 0.44–0.45, PW 0.19– 0.20, PTL 0.10–0.12, PTNL 0.09, PPTL 0.10, PPTNL 0.09, PTW 0.09–0.10, PPTW 0.11–0.12, PTH 0.10, PPTH 0.13–0.14, CI 69.23–73.68, DPPTI 110.00–120.00, PI 100–111.11, PPTI 84.62–85.71, SI 67.86–70.37 (6 specimens measured).

Head longer than wide, dorsum flattened, sides straight to weakly convex; posterior head margin almost straight to weakly concave; posterolateral corners narrowly rounded; head without spots near its anterior margin; mandibles narrow, slender and bowed inwardly, masticatory margin with 3 teeth; all teeth present at equal distance, apical tooth large, acute, median and basal teeth smaller and acute; clypeus protruding forward, anterior margin concave, apically bilobed; eyes absent; antennae short, 12-segmented, scape ending by 3/4 of its length and 1/2 of head length before posterior head margin; 1st funicular segment longer than wide; 2nd funicular segment longer than wide, thin at its base and narrowly attached to 1st funicular segment; funicular segments 3–6 wider than long, segments 9–10 thick, quadrate and as wide as long; apical segment longer and equal in length to the two preceeding segments together; mesosoma elongated, its dorsum flat in lateral view, almost equal in length to the gaster; pronotum slightly raised, almost as wide as long, sides strongly convex in dorsal view; promesonotal suture wide and deep; mesonotum constricted; metanotal groove absent; dorsum of propodeum longer than its declivitous face, posterodorsal corners rounded, declivitous face weakly convex; fore tibiae and all femora swollen; basitarsus of fore legs without a projection on its ventral anterior margin; mid and hind tibiae with simple spur; petiolar node almost as wide as long, in dorsal view longitudinally and transversally weakly convex with rounded lateral sides, anterior face vertical; petiole with a weak subpetiolar process without lamella; petiolar process convex, anteriorly and posteriorly oblique; postpetiolar node slightly wider than long, antero-posterodorsally rounded in lateral view, sides rounded in dorsal view; subpostpetiolar process large, wide and convex, anterior and posterior faces obliquely rounded; petiolar spiracle large and almost 2 times the size of postpetiolar spiracle, gaster broadly oval; sting short, non protruding to slightly protruding, with bulb as wide as shaft.

Body smooth and shiny with fine punctures on head and dorsum of mesosoma; internal side of mandibles with 2–3 setae; body covered with abundant decumbent pubescence and short suberect hairs along with few long suberect hairs on mandibles, clypeus and apex of gaster, color brownish yellow.

References

Baroni Urbani, C. 1977c. Materiali per una revisione della sottofamiglia Leptanillinae Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomol. Basil. 2: 427-488 (page 462, combination in Leptanilla)
Bharti, H. & Kumar, R. 2012. A new species of Leptanilla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Leptanillinae) with a key to Oriental species. Annales Zoologici 62, 619-625.
Griebenow, Z. 2020. Delimitation of tribes in the subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a description of the male of Protanilla lini Terayama, 2009. Myrmecological News 30: 229-250. (doi:10.25849/MYRMECOL.NEWS_030:229).
Griebenow, Z. 2024. Systematic revision of the ant subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 1189, 83–184 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.1189.107506).
Griebenow, Z.H., Isaia, M., Moradmand, M. 2022. A remarkable troglomorphic ant, Yavnella laventa sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Leptanillinae), identified as the first known worker of Yavnella Kugler by phylogenomic inference. Invertebrate Systematics 36(12), 1118-1138 (doi:10.1071/is22035).
Kutter, H. 1948. Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Leptanillinae (Hym. Formicidae). Eine neue Ameisengattung aus Süd-Indien. Mitt. Schweiz. Entomol. Ges. 21: 286-295 (page 287, figs. 1-4 worker, queen described)
Qian, Y.-H., Zheng-Hui, X., Man, P., Liu, G.-L. 2024. Three new species of the ant genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from China, with a key to the world species. Myrmecological News 34: 21-44 (doi:10.25849/MYRMECOL.NEWS_034:021).
Saroj, S., Mandi, A., Dubey, A.K. 2022. A new species of the rare ant genus, Leptanilla Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Eastern Himalaya, India. Asian Myrmecology 15, e015005 (doi:10.20362/am.015005).
Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1965b. The ant larvae of the subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 72: 24-34 (page 31, larva described)
Yamada, A., Van Dang, A., Eguchi, K. 2023. Natural history notes of the rare enigmatic ant Opamyrma hungvuong: A first glimpse of their preying behavior on centipedes (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Leptanillinae). Asian Myrmecology 16, e016009 (doi:10.20362/am.016009).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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.
Baroni Urbani C. 1977. Materiali per una revisione della sottofamiglia Leptanillinae Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Entomologica Basiliensia 2: 427-488.
Bharti H., and R. Kumar. 2012. A new species of Leptanilla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Leptanillinae) with a key to Oriental species. Annales Zoologici 62(4): 619-625.
Dad J. M., S. A. Akbar, H. Bharti, and A. A. Wachkoo. 2019. Community structure and ant species diversity across select sites ofWestern Ghats, India. Acta Ecologica Sinica 39: 219–228.