Monomorium hospitum

Monomorium hospitum
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Solenopsidini
Genus:	Monomorium
Species:	M. hospitum
Binomial name
	Monomorium hospitum; Viehmeyer, 1916

Known from the type material, consisting of queens and males collected from a nest of Monomorium floricola in Singapore.

At a Glance

• Workerless Inquiline

Identification

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: Singapore (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


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Nomenclature

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

hospitum. Monomorium (Corynomyrmex) hospitum Viehmeyer, 1916a: 133 (q.m.) SINGAPORE.
- Type-material: 4 syntype queens, 2 syntype males.
- Type-locality: Singapore: no. 13: 17 (H. Overbeck).
- Type-depository: MNHU.
- Status as species: Emery, 1922e: 174; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 162; Ettershank, 1966: 89; Bolton, 1987: 299; Bolton, 1995b: 262.
- Distribution: Singapore.

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

Bolton (1987) - Viehmeyer erected a separate subgenus of Monomorium, Corynomyrmex, for a single species (hospitum) based on a series of 4 females and 2 males taken from a nest of the common tramp species Monomorium floricola, in Singapore.

The dull yellowish female of this apparently workerless inquiline is small, about the same size as the floricola worker and distinctly smaller than the reproductive female of floricola. In most aspects of its morphology the hospitum female is unexceptional but the mandibles are highly specialized, showing a reduction in dentition which is paralleled in some other inquilines (e.g., Monomorium pergandei ). In hospitum the masticatory margin of the female mandible consists of a straight edentate proximal half and a massively extended distal half which projects as a relatively large single sharp tooth. The inner margin of this large tooth shows minute crenellations which appear to be the vestigial remains of 2 preapical teeth. On each side this enlarged tooth projects far across beyond the midline of the clypeus, even projecting beyond the blunt prominence of the median portion of the clypeus on the opposite side from its insertion. Apart from the mandible the head is normal for Monomorium.

The female alitrunk in dorsal view is very narrow, much narrower than the head. The mesoscutum is somewhat reduced but parapsidal grooves are still present. Wing remnants illustrate that the females are alate when virgin.

From the original description the male, which I have not seen, seems unremarkable except for the fact that the antennal segmentation is reduced to 12, a character shared with other inquilines in this group.

Description

Type Material

Bolton (1987) - Syntype females and males, Singapore: no. 13: 71 (H. Overbeck) (MNHU) [female examined].

References

Bolton, B. 1987. A review of the Solenopsis genus-group and revision of Afrotropical Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Entomology. 54: 263-452. (page 299, see also)
Cantone S. 2017. Winged Ants, The Male, Dichotomous key to genera of winged male ants in the World, Behavioral ecology of mating flight (self-published).
Viehmeyer, H. 1916a [1915]. Ameisen von Singapore. Beobachtet und gesammelt von H. Overbeck. Arch. Naturgesch. (A) 81(8): 108-168 (page 133, queen, male described)
Wang, W.Y., Soh, E.J.Y., Yong, G.W.J., Wong, M.K.L., Benoit Guénard, Economo, E.P., Yamane, S. 2022. Remarkable diversity in a little red dot: a comprehensive checklist of known ant species in Singapore (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with notes on ecology and taxonomy. Asian Myrmecology 15: e015006 (doi:10.20362/am.015006).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Ettershank G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171.