Myrmecia elegans

Myrmecia elegans
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmeciinae
Tribe:	Myrmeciini
Genus:	Myrmecia
Species group:	pilosula
Species:	M. elegans
Binomial name
Myrmecia elegans (Clark, 1943) Specimen Labels

Identification

Heterick (2009) - Western Australian specimens of Myrmecia elegans are very difficult to separate from Myrmecia occidentalis, and I am unable to follow Ogata and Taylor (1991) wholly in their diagnosis of the species. The mandibles are often quite dark in colour, but can also be light yellow (they are light-coloured in M. occidentalis). The mesosoma varies from uniformly red or orange to bicoloured dark red and black, similar to M. occidentalis. The yellowish pubescence on the clypeus, as well as the shorter antennal scape, seem to be the surest guides to M. elegans, and, at least in local workers, the individual mandibular teeth tend to be slanted posteriad in M. elegans but are mostly evenly triangular in M. occidentalis.

Keys including this Species

• Key to Australian Myrmecia Species
• Key to Myrmecia of the southwestern Australian Botanical Province

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -30.21666667° to -36.81666667°.

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.

• elegans. Promyrmecia elegans Clark, 1943: 122, pl. 14, figs. 44, 45 (w.q.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
  • Type-material: syntype workers, syntype queens (numbers not stated).
  • Type-localities: Australia: Western Australia, Hovea (J. Clark), Western Australia, Mt Dale (J. Clark), Western Australia, Mundaring (J. Clark).
  • Type-depository: MVMA.
  • Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1971d: 248 (l.).
  • Combination in Myrmecia: Brown, 1953j: 15.
  • Status as species: Clark, 1951: 222 (redescription); Taylor & Brown, 1985: 8; Taylor, 1987a: 42; Ogata, 1991a: 361; Ogata & Taylor, 1991: 1641 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 271; Heterick, 2009: 123.
  • Distribution: Australia.

Type Material

• Syntype, 1 worker, Mt. Dale, Western Australia, Australia, Clark,J., ANIC32-007734, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Syntype, 3 workers, 1 queen, Mundaring, Western Australia, Australia, Clark,J., ANIC32-015335, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Syntype, 1 worker, Emu Rock, Western Australia, Australia, Museum of Comparative Zoology.
• Syntype, worker(s), queen(s), Hovea, Mt. Dale and Mundaring, Western Australia, Australia, Museum Victoria, Melbourne.

References

• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1953j. Revisionary notes on the ant genus Myrmecia of Australia. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 111: 1-35 (page 15, Combination in Myrmecia)
• Clark, J. 1943. A revision of the genus Promyrmecia Emery (Formicidae). Mem. Natl. Mus. Vic. 13: 83-149 (page 122, pl. 14, figs. 44, 45 worker, queen described)
• Heterick, B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of South-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 76: 1-206.
• Heterick, B.E. 2021. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part I: Systematics. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 86, 1-245 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2021.001-245).
• Heterick, B.E. 2022. A guide to the ants of Western Australia. Part II: Distribution and biology. Records of the Western Australian Museum, supplement 86: 247-510 (doi:10.18195/issn.0313-122x.86.2022.247-510).
• 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).
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1971d. Ant larvae of the subfamily Myrmeciinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pan-Pac. Entomol. 47: 245-256 (page 248, larva described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Heterick B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1-206. 
• Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.