Monomorium noualhieri

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Monomorium noualhieri
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Monomorium
Species: M. noualhieri
Binomial name
Monomorium noualhieri
(Emery, 1895)

Monomorium noualhieri casent0102061 profile 1.jpg

Monomorium noualhieri casent0102061 dorsal 1.jpg

Specimen labels

M. noualhieri was collected in a nest of M. salomonis in Algeria. The inquiline species Monomorium santschii also uses salomonis as a host species. Is there a possibility that noualhieri represents a throwback, an accidentally produced worker of santschii in a species otherwise known to have lost its worker caste? At present I consider the possibility to be extremely remote and suspect that santschii is permanently a workerless inquiline and that noualhieri is truly an isolated species, representing the somewhat degenerate worker caste of an otherwise unknown socially parasitic female. (Bolton 1987)

Identification

A member of the salomonis-group.

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 34.85° to 34.85°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Algeria (type locality).

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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.
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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.
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Biology

Castes

Images from AntWeb

Monomorium noualhieri casent0102061 dorsal 2.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0102061. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Nomenclature

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

  • noualhieri. Phacota noualhieri Emery, 1895b: 67, fig. 1a-d (w.) ALGERIA.
    • Type-material: holotype worker.
    • Type-locality: Algeria: Biskra (Noualhier).
    • Type-depository: MSNG.
    • [Phacota noualhieri Wasmann, 1894: 165. Nomen nudum (attributed to Emery).]
    • Combination in Phacota: Emery, 1922e: 187;
    • combination in Paraphacota: Santschi, 1919d: 92; Santschi, 1927d: 245;
    • combination in Monomorium: Ettershank, 1966: 91; Bolton, 1987: 282.
    • Status as species: Emery, 1908f: 555; Emery, 1922e: 187; Ettershank, 1966: 91; Kutter, 1968b: 203; Bolton, 1987: 282 (redescription); Bolton, 1995b: 265; Borowiec, L. 2014: 123.
    • Distribution: Algeria.

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

Description

Worker

Bolton (1987) - Holotype. TL 3.3, HL 0.84, HW 0.62, CI 74, SL 0.70, SI 113, PW 0.42, AL 0.98.

Mandibles with narrow blades, the masticatory margin with 4 sharp teeth. Apical tooth acute, narrow and disproportionately long, well over twice the length of the second tooth. Mandibles unsculptured and smooth. Palp formula 1,2, the single maxillary palp segment short clavate, almost bulbous. Antennal segmentation almost obliterated by partial fusion of the funicular segments, the limits of individual segments difficult to discern. Antennae with 12 segments, the apical club of 3 segments (not 11 and 2 as in the original description). The two apical club segments are flattened from side to side, the apical more so than the preapical, and almost fused together so that their junction is difficult to see. The apical club segment is slightly concave on its inner surface and convex on its outer. This may be artifact of preservation but both antennae are alike. Anterior clypeal margin with the median portion broadly evenly convex. Median portion of clypeus broadly convex across, without carinae. Frontal lobes very small and the posterior margin of the clypeus between them with the suture obliterated. Eyes fractionally behind the midlength of the sides, their maximum diameter about 0.22 x HW. Promesonotum evenly long-convex, the metanotal groove shallowly impressed. Propodeum on a lower level than the promesonotum and evenly shallowly convex, with the dorsum rounding broadly into the declivity. Petiole node in profile subglobular, with an extremely short thick peduncle; subsessile in appearance. In dorsal view the petiole node slightly broader than long, not sharply differentiated from its anterior peduncle and the latter scarcely narrower than the node. Postpetiole by contrast very reduced, occupying less than half the volume of the petiole and longer than broad. Dorsal surfaces of entire head and body lacking standing hairs. Entire ant glossy brown, smooth and shining, unsculptured except for faint superficial vestiges in places.

Type Material

Bolton (1987) - Holotype worker, Algeria: Biskra (Noualhier) (Museo Civico di Storia Naturale, Genoa) [examined].

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Barech G., M. Khaldi, X. Espadaler, and H. Cagniant. 2017. The genus Monomorium Mayr, 1855 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) in the Maghreb (North Africa): Identification key, redescription of Monomorium major Bernard, 1953 and new records from Algeria. Boletin de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 61: 151-157.
  • Ettershank G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171.
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