Myrmecia banksi

Myrmecia banksi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmeciinae
Tribe:	Myrmeciini
Genus:	Myrmecia
Species group:	pilosula
Species:	M. banksi
Binomial name
Myrmecia banksi Taylor, 2015

Myrmecia banksi is known only from low elevations along a narrow coastal and sub-coastal strip in New South Wales south from Sydney to Batemans Bay. This species was referred to in previous JACP publications as the "greenhead" form of M. (pilosula), as “M. (pilosula) 2n=10”, or informally as M. banksi.

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Myrmecia pilosula complex species

Distribution

Taylor (2015) - Known from coastal or sub-coastal NSW, from Leumeah, Sydney, south to Catalina, Batemans Bay. All collections are from elevations below 70 meters. Localities most distant from the coast are at Wandandian (ca 5km inland) and Leumeah (ca 24 km). Myrmecia banksi will almost certainly range further north and south, and could occur more widely in the Sydney area where records of Jack-jumpers are currently sparse.

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -34.03° to -35.5°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (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.

Phylogeny

Myrmecia

gulosa group Myrmecia esuriens Myrmecia midas Myrmecia pulchra Myrmecia mjobergi Myrmecia regularis Myrmecia forficata Myrmecia brevinoda Myrmecia erecta Myrmecia pyriformis Myrmecia browningi Myrmecia sp. Myrmecia analis Myrmecia minuscula Myrmecia comata Myrmecia rowlandi Myrmecia flavicoma Myrmecia tarsata Myrmecia tridentata Myrmecia eungellensis Myrmecia fabricii Myrmecia athertonensis Myrmecia auriventris Myrmecia borealis Myrmecia gulosa Myrmecia forceps Myrmecia simillima Myrmecia arnoldi Myrmecia fulgida Myrmecia pavida Myrmecia vindex Myrmecia fuscipes Myrmecia (near nigriceps) Myrmecia desertorum Myrmecia nigriceps Myrmecia nigriceps Myrmecia inquilina nigrocincta group Myrmecia flammicollis Myrmecia petiolata Myrmecia nigrocincta picta group Myrmecia fucosa Myrmecia picta Myrmecia infima Myrmecia urens apicalis group Myrmecia apicalis pilosula group Myrmecia testaceipes Myrmecia acuta Myrmecia chasei Myrmecia clarki Myrmecia dispar Myrmecia occidentalis Myrmecia tepperi Myrmecia elegans Myrmecia varians Myrmecia banksi Myrmecia croslandi Myrmecia impaternata Myrmecia haskinsorum Myrmecia pilosula Myrmecia pilosula Myrmecia (near pilosula)

Based on Mera-Rodríguez et al. (2023).

Nomenclature

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

• banksi. Myrmecia banksi Taylor, 2015a: 501, figs. 4-6 (w.) AUSTRALIA (New South Wales).
  • Type-material: holotype worker, paratype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-locality: holotype+paratypes Australia: New South Wales, South Nowra, shortly N junction of Forest Road and Bulldog Avenue track (-34 56, 150 37), ca 800 m., W Forest Road/Princes Highway intersection, Comberton (no further data).
  • [Note: no date, collection codes or collector’s names are given for the type-material; the type-locality does not appear in “material examined”, where the only South Nowra sample is recorded as (-34 55, 150 36), HI99-013 (S. Brown & S. Marsden).]
  • Type-depositories: ANIC (holotype); ANIC (paratypes); AMSC, BMNH, CASC, MCZC, MHNG, MVMA, QMBA, SAMA, TMHT, WAMP (“paratypes or type-compared vouchers”).
  • [Myrmecia banksi Imai, Taylor & Crozier, 1994: 147. Unavailable name (published without designation of type-material).]
  • Distribution: Australia.

Type Material

• Holotype, worker, South Nowra, shortly north of the junction of Forest Road and Bulldog Avenue track, ca 800 meters west of the Forest Road/Princes Highway intersection, New South Wales, Australia, 34°56′0″S 150°37′0″E, Australian National Insect Collection.

Forest Road marks the boundary between Currambene State Forest (to the North) and Nowra State Forest. The area is referred to locally as Comberton. Holotype and paratypes in Australian National Insect Collection, paratypes or type-compared vouchers in Australian Museum, Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Queensland Museum, South Australian Museum, WAMA, TMHA) and in The Natural History Museum, California Academy of Sciences, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève.

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

Description

Worker

General features as illustrated and in key couplets 1, & 3. Myrmecia banksi is distinguished within the pilosula complex by its dense, brassy-green cephalic pubescence. This produces strong greenish-yellow reflections, readily visible in living specimens with hand lens magnification, and encouraged Imai’s field epithet “greenhead”. Anterior femora chocolate brown, each with a reddish-orange apical section up to 1/3 its length, matching the adjacent tibia. Middle tarsi and tibiae reddish-orange, matching those of fore legs. Hind femora and tibiae dark brown, like anterior femora; the tibiae sometimes a little lighter, with their apices and the tarsi progressively lighter in color towards the foot. Myrmecia banksi is otherwise morphologically similar to the eastern species Myrmecia impaternata and the Western Australian M. imaii, which have similar but usually much-less dense brassy cephalic pilosity, and distinctive, very different karyology. The provenance of specimens and their comparison with confidently identified vouchers is important in differentiating these taxa.

(Holotype, smallest paratype, largest paratype (mm): TL = 13.04, 11.81, 13.45; HW = 2.66, 2.26, 2.76; HL = 2.44, 2.48, 2.77; CI = 109, 109, 111; EL =1.02, 0.87, 1.06; OI = 38, 38, 38; SL = 1.98, 1.75, 2.09; SI = 74, 77, 76; PW = 1.72, 1.70, 1.77; WL = 3.86, 3.33, 3.92; PetW = 0.94, 0.77, 1.01; PpetW = 1.50, 1.19, 1.60.

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.

• 2n = 9 (Australia) (Imai et al., 1977; Imai et al., 1994; Taylor, 2015) (putative mutant individual).
• 2n = 10 (Australia) (Imai et al., 1994; Hirai et al., 1994; Hirai et al., 1996; Taylor, 2015).

Taylor (2015) - Most examined specimens (sampled from all localities except Catalina and Batemans Bay) had the monomorphic karyotype 2K=6M +2Mc +2A (2n=10) (Imai, Taylor et al., 1994: 147, Fig. 5h). One putative mutant individual from Leumeah (sample HI–AAGH–11) had a complicated translocation producing 2n=9 (Imai, Crozier et al., 1977).

Etymology

Named for Joseph Banks (1743–1820) who with Daniel Solander in 1770 first scientifically collected Australian ants and other insects at Botany Bay, NSW, while exploring ashore from James Cook’s HM Bark Endeavour in habitat similar to that at the M. banksi Type Locality. The Endeavour landing site is about 100km NNE of the M. banksi South Nowra site.

References

• Imai, H.T. Taylor, R.W. & Crozier, R.H. 1994. Experimental bases for the minimum interaction hypothesis: 1. Chromosome evolution in ants of the Myrmecia pilosula species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae). Japanese journal of Genetics, 69, 137–182 (doi:10.1266/jjg.69.137).
• Imai, H.T., Crozier, R.H. & Taylor, R.W. 1977. Karyotype evolution in Australian ants. Chromosoma, 59, 341–393 (doi:10.1007/BF00327974).
• Mera-Rodríguez, D., Jourdan, H., Ward, P.S., Shattuck, S., Cover, S.P., Wilson, E.O., Rabeling, C. 2023. Biogeography and evolution of social parasitism in Australian Myrmecia bulldog ants revealed by phylogenomics. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 186, 107825 (doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107825).
• Taylor, R.W. 2015. Ants with Attitude: Australian Jack-jumpers of the Myrmecia pilosula species complex, with descriptions of four new species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae). Zootaxa. 3911:493–520 (doi:zootaxa.3911.4.2).
• Taylor, R.W., Imai, H.T., Hasegawa, E., Beaton, C.D. 2018. A unique conjunction: Evidence for gynogenesis accompanying haplodiploid sex determination in the Australian ant Myrmecia impaternata Taylor. Psyche: A Journal of Entomology 2018, 1–7 (doi:10.1155/2018/2832690).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Imai, H. T.; Taylor, R. W.; Crozier, R. H. 1994. Experimental bases for the minimum interaction theory. I. Chromosome evolution in ants of the Myrmecia pilosula species complex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae). Japanese Journal of Genetics 69:174-175. [1994-04-25] PDF 126063
• Taylor R. W. 2015. Ants with Attitude: Australian Jack-jumpers of the Myrmecia pilosulaspecies complex, with descriptions of four new species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae). Zootaxa 3911(4): 493-520.