Leptogenys peuqueti

Leptogenys peuqueti
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Ponerinae
Tribe:	Ponerini
Genus:	Leptogenys
Species group:	chinensis
Species:	L. peuqueti
Binomial name
	Leptogenys peuqueti; (André, 1887) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
	Leptogenys minchinii Forel, 1900; Leptogenys watsoni Forel, 1900;

Leptogenys peuqueti is the most common Leptogenys recorded from Hong Kong, collected from a wide variety of habitats including forests, shrubland as well as disturbed urban sites. Workers are known to foraging individually but will recruit small numbers of workers to tackle larger prey items (Janssen et al. 1997; MTH pers. obs.). Workers have been noted to feed upon isopods in Hong Kong. Nests have been found within rotting logs, under rocks and within soil (often underneath objects). Colonies are queenless, instead reproducing through gamergates (Ito 1997). One colony collection contained 67 workers, 20 cocoons and four larvae (MTH271), correlating with Ito (1997) who found the number of workers in L. peuqueti colonies to range from 5 and 97. (Hamer et al., 2024)

At a Glance

• Gamergate

Photo Gallery

Leptogenys peuqueti worker. Photo by Dulneth Wijewardana

Identification

A member of the Leptogenys chinensis species group.

Hamer et al. (2024) - Leptogenys peuqueti is most similar to Leptogenys grohli and Leptogenys kraepelini within Hong Kong and Macao, being distinguishable from L. grohli by the smooth head dorsum, larger eyes, shorter tubular setae on the anterior clypeal margin, and convex lateral head margins. Leptogenys peuqueti highly resembles L. kraepelini, but lacks the truncated anterior clypeal margin found in L. kraepelini, the posteriorly projecting propodeal lobes and is overall smaller.

Within the wider Indomalayan Leptogenys species, L. peuqueti is most similar to Leptogenys confucii, as well as other members of the L. chinensis group. Leptogenys peuqueti can be differentiated by the smooth head dorsum, meso- and metathorax, and propodeum, as well as its black colour.

Hamer et al. (2024), Figure 3. Differences between antennal segment lengths and petiolar shapes. A, Leptogenys rufida (MBS006585). B, L. peuqueti (ANTWEB10096169). C, Leptogenys rufida (MBS015251). D, L. peuqueti (RHL003347).

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Hamer et al. (2024) - A very wide-ranging species in Indomalaya, L. peuqueti is recorded from several Chinese provinces including Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong Hubei, Hunan, Macao, Yunnan, and Zhejiang (Guénard and Dunn 2012; Xu and He 2015; Janicki et al. 2016; Guénard et al. 2017; Brassard et al. 2021). Other countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India (Andaman Islands, Kerala, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and West Bengal), Indonesia (Java), Malaysia (Peninsular and Bornean parts), Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam (Bakhtiar and Chiang 2010; Janicki et al. 2016; Guénard et al. 2017; Wang et al. 2022). Further sampling effort across the Oriental region will likely produce new country level records of this species (e.g., Cambodia, Laos, Thailand).

Hamer et al. (2024), Figure 21. Further distribution maps of Leptogenys species recorded from Hong Kong. A, L. kraepelini. B, L. laeviterga. C, L. peuqueti. D, L. rufida. E, L. strena. The base map displayed shows tree canopy cover with the darker green areas indicating greater tree cover.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 22.675° to 3.698055556°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: Philippines, Singapore.
Oriental Region: Bangladesh, India (type locality), Myanmar (type locality), Sri Lanka, Vietnam (type locality).
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.

Biology

Thirteen colonies of L. peuqueti collected had 25.5 ± 22 virgin workers (range 4-88) and 4 ± 3.4 gamergates (range 1-13)(Ito 1997). Three colonies had a single gamergate.

Castes


.	Owned by Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Hamer et al. (2024), Figure 17. Leptogenys peuqueti (FK1T2W5-1). A, lateral view. B, dorsal view. C, head in full face view.

Images from AntWeb


Syntype of Leptogenys peuqueti. Worker. Specimen code casent0907380. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.


Syntype of Leptogenys minchinii. Worker. Specimen code casent0907379. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.


Syntype of Leptogenys watsoni. Worker. Specimen code casent0907381. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

peuqueti. Lobopelta peuqueti André, 1887: 292 (w.) VIETNAM. Imai, Kubota, et al. 1985: 46 (k.). Combination in Leptogenys: Emery, 1895k: 461. Senior synonym of minchinii: Xu & He, 2015: 145. See also: Bingham, 1903: 71.
minchinii. Leptogenys (Lobopelta) minchinii Forel, 1900d: 308 (diagnosis in key) (w.) INDIA. Forel, 1900d: 314 (m.); Imai, Baroni Urbani, et al. 1984: 5 (k.). Junior synonym of peuqueti: Xu & He, 2015: 145. See also: Bingham, 1903: 70; Rothney, 1903: 97.
watsoni. Leptogenys peuqueti r. watsoni Forel, 1900d: 309 (diagnosis in key) (w.) MYANMAR. Raised to species: Bingham, 1903: 72. Junior synonym of peuqueti: Xu & He, 2015: 145.

Description

Karyotype

See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

n = 26, 2n = 52 (India) (Imai et al., 1984; Mariano et al., 2015) (as Leptogenys minchini).
n = 27, 2n = 54 (Indonesia) (Imai et al., 1985; Mariano et al., 2015).

References

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References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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