Lophomyrmex birmanus

Lophomyrmex birmanus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Crematogastrini
Genus:	Lophomyrmex
Species:	L. birmanus
Binomial name
	Lophomyrmex birmanus; Emery, 1893 Specimen labels

Lophomyrmex birmanus nests in the soil, usually under stones and logs or around the bases of trees. Workers are active ground-foragers. We have collected workers by underground bait-trapping, suggesting they workers forage both on and under the ground. (Eguchi, Bui and Yamane 2011)

Identification

A member of the Lophomyrmex quadrispinosus group.

Eguchi, Bui and Yamane (2011) - The worker of the single known Vietnamese species (there is now a second, Lophomyrmex indosinensis) has the following features. Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view oval with a relatively straight posterior margin; frontal carina and antennal scrobe absent; median portion of clypeus convex anteriad, with a protruding blunt tooth at the midpoint of its anterior margin; frontal lobes moderately separated by posteromedian portion of clypeus; antenna 11-segmented with distinct 3-segmented club; eye oval with a weak anteroventral point, located at about midlength of head in full-face view; masticatory margin of mandible with apical tooth and one preapical tooth, followed by an enlarged denticle, this then followed by a series of small denticles; basal margin of mandible finely serrated; promesonotum forming a single dome, flattened dorsally, with a pair of horizontal flat spines those are formed by the lateral and anterolateral edges of the dorsum and directed anteriad; promesonotal suture absent; metanotal groove well defined; propodeal spine long; propodeal lobe reduced to a weak carina; petiole with a distinct peduncle and a high node; gastral shoulder distinct.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 19.11666667° to 10.54583333°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: India, Myanmar (type locality), Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam.
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

Castes

Nomenclature

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

birmanus. Lophomyrmex birmanus Emery, 1893e: 192 (diagnosis in key) (w.) MYANMAR. See also: Emery, 1895k: 466; Bingham, 1903: 196; Rigato, 1994a: 58.

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

Description

Worker

Rigato (1994) - TL 2.6-3.2, HL 0.66-0.79, HW 0.59-0.74, CI 83-95, SL 0.57-0.64, SI 84-98, PW 0.39-0.50, AL 0.75-0.94, SpL 0.19-0.30 HTL 0.53-0.65, TI 85-93 (44 measured).

With the characters given in the key and the following: Mesonotum in profile with a very low prominence and without a posterior step. Metanotal groove wide and shallow in profile. Propodeal spines in profile quite long and thin, often feebly curved downward. Petiolar node robust and rather rounded in profile.

Clypeus mostly subopaque. Frontal triangle sublucid. Head with a very superficial reticulation, shining. Genae and frontal lobes with some longitudinal rugulae. Pronotum rather smooth, at most as reticulate as the dorsum of the head. Posterior half of the mesonotum, mesopleuron and propodeum, excluding the declivity, with a strong and dense reticulation, subopaque. Petiole and postpetiole feebly reticulate, above all on the nodes. Gaster shining; a very weak reticulation like that of the head is present mostly on the basal half of the first tergite.

Colour from brownish yellow to light brown; often head clearly darker as well as the first gastral tergite, and alitrunk with somewhat shaded areas and bright brownish.

Type Material

Rigato (1994) - Holotype worker, Burma [=Myanmar]: Carin-Cheba 500-1000 m, xii.1887 (L. Fea) (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa) [examined].

References

Rigato, F. 1994b. Revision of the myrmicine ant genus Lophomyrmex, with a review of its taxonomic position (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology. 19:47-60. (page 58, see also)
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 196, see also)
Dendup, K.C., Dorji, C., Dhadwal, T., Bharti, H., Pfeiffer, M. 2021. A preliminary checklist of ants from Bhutan. Asian Myrmecology 14, e014005 (doi:10.20362/am.014005).
Eguchi, K., Bui, T.V. & Yamane, S. 2011. Generic synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam. Part 1 – Myrmicinae and Pseudomyrmecinae. Zootaxa 2878: 1-61.
Emery, C. 1893g. Formicides de l'Archipel Malais. Rev. Suisse Zool. 1: 187-229 (page 192, (diagnosis in key) worker described)
Emery, C. 1895m. Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine. LXIII. Formiche di Birmania del Tenasserim e dei Monti Carin raccolte da L. Fea. Parte II. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 34[=(2(14): 450-483 (page 466, see also)
Jaitrong, W., Tokeeree, Y. 2021. A revision of the ant genus Lophomyrmex Emery, 1892 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae) in Thailand and its ecological functions. Thai Journal of Forestry 40(1): 18-33.
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).
Liu, C., Fischer, G., Hita Garcia, F., Yamane, S., Liu, Q., Peng, Y.Q., Economo, E.P., Guénard, B., Pierce, N.E. 2020. Ants of the Hengduan Mountains: a new altitudinal survey and updated checklist for Yunnan Province highlight an understudied insect biodiversity hotspot. ZooKeys 978, 1–171 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.978.55767).
Yamane, S. & Hosoishi, S. 2014. Second Vietnamese species of the myrmicine genus Lophomyrmex (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Halteres, 5:64-68.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Chantarasawat N., D. Sitthicharoenchai, C. Chaisuekul, and C. Lekprayoon. 2013. Comparison of Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Diversity in Dry Dipterocarp and Mixed-Deciduous Forests at Sri Nan National Park, Northern Thailand. Tropical Natural History 13(1): 1-19.
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
Eguchi K.; Bui T. V.; Yamane S. 2011. Generic synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), part I Myrmicinae and Pseudomyrmecinae. Zootaxa 2878: 1-61.
Emery C. 1893. Formicides de l'Archipel Malais. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 1: 187-229.
Forel A. 1911. Fourmis nouvelles ou intéressantes. Bull. Soc. Vaudoise Sci. Nat. 47: 331-400.
Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
Jaitrong W.; Nabhitabhata, J. 2005. A list of known ant species of Thailand. The Thailand Natural History Museum Journal 1(1): 9-54.
Mathew R., and R. N. Tiwari. 2000. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Pp. 251-409 in: Director; Zoological Survey of India (ed.) 2000. Fauna of of Meghalaya. Part 7. [State Fauna Series 4.] Insecta 2000. Calcutta: Zoological Survey of India, 621 pp.
Rigato F. 1994. Revision of the myrmicine ant genus Lophomyrmex, with a review of its taxonomic position (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 19: 47-60.
Sakchoowong W., W. Jaitrong, and K. Ogata. 2008. Ant diversity in forest and traditional hill-tribe agricultural types in northern Thailand. Kasetsart J. (Nat. Sci.) 42: 617-626.
Sheela S., and S. N. Ghosh. 2009. A new species of Lophomyrmex Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from India with a key to Indian species. Biosystematica 2(2): 17-20.
Tiwari R. N., B. G. Kundu, S. Roy Chowdhury, and S. N. Ghosh. 2003. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Fauna of Sikkim. Part 4. State Fauna Series. 9.Zool.Surv.India. i-iii, 1-512. Chapter pagination: 467-506.
Xu Z., Chen Z. and Hu G.. 1998. Five species of the ant genera Tetramorium, Kartidris and Lophomyrmex newly recorded in China (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Southwest Forestry College 18: 236-240
Yamane Sk., and S. Hosoishi. 2014. Second Vietnamese species of the myrmicine genus Lophomyrmex (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Halteres 5: 64-68.
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.