Monomorium santschii

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Monomorium santschii
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Monomorium
Species: M. santschii
Binomial name
Monomorium santschii
(Forel, 1905)

Monomorium santschii casent0908779 p 1 high.jpg

Monomorium santschii casent0908779 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

The type was an inquiline female found with Monomorium salomonis in Tunisia. All samples known to the present have been found at the entrances to nests or within nests of salomonis-group members. According to Forel (1906) and Santschi (1913b) females of santschii approach the host nest and wait for a while at the entrance. They are soon accepted by the host workers and gain entry to the nest. Shortly thereafter the host workers kill their own reproductive female and adopt the inquiline, which goes on to lay numerous eggs. These produce only females and males; the worker caste has been lost. (Bolton 1987)

Identification

Morphologically only very slightly modified from other members of the Monomorium salomonis-group. The females are very obviously specialized members of the salomonis-group in which the eighth funicular segment is enlarged to form a 4-segmented club and the occipital margin of the head has become strongly concave. The same modification of the head occurs weakly in the males, but their funiculi are normal for the salomonis-group. In both sexes the mesoscutum is flattened and bulges forward anteriorly so that it overhangs the pronotum, and in females the petiole and postpetiole nodes are anteroposteriorly compressed. These last two characters occur, though not as strongly developed, elsewhere in the salomonis-group. The female of Monomorium afrum shows modifications in structure that are surprisingly like those of santschii. Unlike santschii, however, afrum retains a worker caste. I suspect that the female of afrum may be a temporary social parasite.

Distribution

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Palaearctic Region: Tunisia (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 santschii casent0908779 h 2 high.jpg
Syntype of Monomorium santschii. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0908779. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Monomorium santschii casent0908780 d 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0908780 p 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0908780 h 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0908780 l 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0908780 p 2 high.jpg
Syntype of Monomorium santschii. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0908780. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.
Monomorium santschii casent0913635 p 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913635 h 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913635 d 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913635 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of unpublished name: Monomorium santschii terguira. Worker. Specimen code casent0913635. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by MNHN, Paris, France.
Monomorium santschii casent0913851 h 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913851 d 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913851 p 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913851 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Wheeleriella adulatrix. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0913851. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Monomorium santschii casent0913852 h 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913852 d 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913852 p 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913852 l 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913852 p 2 high.jpg
Syntype of Wheeleriella santschii insidiosa. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0913852. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Monomorium santschii casent0913853 h 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913853 p 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913853 d 1 high.jpgMonomorium santschii casent0913853 l 1 high.jpg
Syntype of Wheeleriella santschii rufescens. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0913853. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

  • santschii. Wheeleria santschii Forel, 1905b: 171 (q.) TUNISIA.
    • Type-material: holotype queen.
    • Type-locality: Tunisia: Kairouan, 19.viii.1903 (F. Santschi).
    • Type-depository: MHNG.
    • Forel, 1906a: 52 (m.).
    • Combination in Santschia: Forel, 1906a: 65;
    • combination in Wheeleriella: Forel, 1907f: 145; Emery, 1908f: 556;
    • combination in Monomorium: Ettershank, 1966: 92; Bolton, 1987: 291.
    • Status as species: Forel, 1906a: 52 (redescription); Santschi, 1906: 364; Santschi, in Forel, 1906a: 54; Forel, 1907f: 145; Emery, 1908f: 556; Emery, 1922e: 187; Ettershank, 1966: 92; Kutter, 1968b: 203; Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 266; Cagniant, 2006a: 196; Borowiec, L. 2014: 125.
    • Senior synonym of adulatrix: Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 266.
    • Senior synonym of insidiosa: Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 266.
    • Senior synonym of rufescens: Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 266.
    • Senior synonym of Santschia intrudens: not previously recorded (unpublished).
    • Distribution: Tunisia.
  • adulatrix. Wheeleriella adulatrix Santschi, 1913f: 229 (q.) TUNISIA.
    • Type-material: holotype queen.
    • Type-locality: Tunisia: Kairouan, 22.x.1913 (F. Santschi).
    • Type-depository: NHMB.
    • Combination in Monomorium: Ettershank, 1966: 87.
    • Status as species: Emery, 1922e: 187; Ettershank, 1966: 87; Kutter, 1968b: 203.
    • Subspecies of santschii: Santschi, 1926e: 234.
    • Junior synonym of santschii: Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 258.
  • insidiosa. Wheeleriella santschii st. insidiosa Santschi, 1926e: 233 (q.m.) TUNISIA.
    • Type-material: syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated).
    • Type-locality: Tunisia: Cheri-chera, 25.x.1925 (F. Santschi).
    • Type-depositories: MCZC, NHMB.
    • Combination in Monomorium: Ettershank, 1966: 89.
    • Subspecies of santschii: Ettershank, 1966: 89.
    • Junior synonym of santschii: Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 263.
  • intrudens. Santschia intrudens Forel, 1906a: 65 (in text).
    • [Unresolved junior secondary homonym of Monomorium intrudens Smith, F. 1874: 406.]
    • Unnecessary replacement species-group name for Wheeleria santschii Forel, 1905b: 171.
    • Junior synonym of santschii: not previously recorded (unpublished).
  • rufescens. Wheeleriella santschii var. rufescens Santschi, 1926e: 233 (q.m.) TUNISIA.
    • Type-material: syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated).
    • Type-locality: Tunisia: Kairouan (F. Santschi).
    • Type-depository: NHMB.
    • Combination in Monomorium: Ettershank, 1966: 92.
    • Subspecies of santschii: Ettershank, 1966: 92.
    • Junior synonym of santschii: Bolton, 1987: 291; Bolton, 1995b: 266.

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

Description

Type Material

Bolton (1987) - Holotype female (dealate), Tunisia: Kairouan, 1 9. viii. 1903 (F. Santschi) (MHN) [examined].


References

  • Bolton, B. 1987. A review of the Solenopsis genus-group and revision of Afrotropical Monomorium Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bull. Br. Mus. (Nat. Hist.) Entomol. 54: 263-452 (page 291, Senior synonym of adulatrix, insidiosa and rufescens)
  • Borowiec, L. 2014. Catalogue of ants of Europe, the Mediterranean Basin and adjacent regions (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Genus (Wroclaw) 25(1-2): 1-340.
  • Chernenko, A., Vidal‐Garcia, M., Helantera, H., Sundstrom, L. 2013. Colony take‐over and brood survival in temporary social parasites of the ant genus Formica. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 67: 727‐735 (doi:10.1007@s00265-013-1496-7).
  • Emery, C. 1908g. Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil IV. Parasitische und Gast-Myrmicinen mit Ausnahme von Strongylognathus. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1908: 549-558 (page 556, Combination in Wheeleriella)
  • Emery, C. 1908j. Beiträge zur Monographie der Formiciden des paläarktischen Faunengebietes. (Hym.) Teil V. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. 1908: 663-686 (page 669, Combination in Monomorium)
  • Emery, C. 1922c. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Myrmicinae. [part]. Genera Insectorum 174B: 95-206 (page 180, Combination in M. (Parholcomyrmex))
  • Ettershank, G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171 (page 92, Combination in Monomorium)
  • Ettershank, G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171 (page 92, Replacement name: santschianum)
  • Forel, A. 1905a. Einige biologische Beobachtungen des Herrn Prof. Dr. E. Göldi an brasilianischen Ameisen. Biol. Centralbl. 25: 170-181 (page 171, worker described)
  • Forel, A. 1906a. Moeurs des fourmis parasites des genres Wheeleria et Bothriomyrmex. Rev. Suisse Zool. 14: 51-69 (page 52, male described)
  • Forel, A. 1907e. Fourmis nouvelles de Kairouan et d'Orient. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 51: 201-208 (page 203, worker described)
  • Karavaiev, V. 1912a. Ameisen aus Tunesien und Algerien, nebst einigen unterwegs in Italien gesammelten Arten. Rus. Entomol. Obozr. 12: 1-22 (page 3, queen described)
  • Santschi, F. 1911f. Formicides nouveaux de l'Afrique Mineure (4e note suite). Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. Afr. Nord 2: 78-85 (page 84, male described)
  • Santschi, F. 1917b [1916]. Fourmis nouvelles de la Colonie du Cap, du Natal et de Rhodesia. Ann. Soc. Entomol. Fr. 85: 279-296 (page 296, Combination in M. (Isholcomyrmex))

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Forel A. 1905. Miscellanea myrmécologiques II (1905). Ann. Soc. Entomol. Belg. 49: 155-185.
  • IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection
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