Myrmecia nigrocincta

Myrmecia nigrocincta
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmeciinae
Tribe:	Myrmeciini
Genus:	Myrmecia
Species group:	nigrocincta
Species:	M. nigrocincta
Binomial name
Myrmecia nigrocincta Smith, F., 1858 Specimen Labels

At a Glance

• Brachypterous Queen

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Australian Myrmecia Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -15.83333° to -38.21667099°.

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.

Elevation Range

Occurrence at collecting sites during elevational surveys of rainforest in the Eungella region, Queensland, Australia (Burwell et al., 2020).

Species	Elevation (m asl)
	200	400	600	800	1000	1200
Myrmecia nigrocincta	20-30	30-40	30-40
Shading indicates the bands of elevation where species was recorded. Numbers are the percentage of total samples containing this species.

Biology

A colony excavated in 2007 near Raleigh NSW yielded one queen, 570 workers, 75 cocoons as well as larvae and eggs (C. Peeters unpublished data).

Castes

Queen is brachypterous, i.e. short, non-functional wings are present at adult emergence (Wheeler 1933 p. 49). This implies that she mates close to her natal colony, and dispersal distance is limited

Myrmecia nigrocincta queen and workers from a colony excavated near Coff's Harbour, NSW. Photo by Christian Peeters.

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.

• nigrocincta. Myrmecia nigrocincta Smith, F. 1858b: 147 (w.) AUSTRALIA (no state data).
  • Type-material: holotype worker.
  • Type-locality: Australia: (no further data), “56/43”.
  • Type-depository: BMNH.
  • Roger, 1861a: 36 (q.); Mayr, 1876: 95 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1971d: 251 (l.); Imai, Crozier & Taylor, 1977: 345 (k.).
  • Status as species: Roger, 1861a: 35; Mayr, 1862: 724 (in key); Roger, 1863b: 23; Mayr, 1863: 430; Mayr, 1865: 84; Lowne, 1865b: 336; Mayr, 1876: 95; Dalla Torre, 1893: 21; Forel, 1910b: 8; Emery, 1911d: 20; Forel, 1915b: 5; Viehmeyer, 1924a: 222; Crawley, 1926: 381 (redescription); Wheeler, W.M. 1933i: 48; Clark, 1951: 113 (redescription); Kugler, C. 1980b: 265; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 13; Taylor, 1987a: 44; Ogata, 1991a: 359; Ogata & Taylor, 1991: 1639 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 272; Liu, S., Richter, et al. 2019: 1 (anatomy).
  • Distribution: Australia.

Type Material

• Syntype, worker(s), specific locality not given, Australia, The Natural History Museum.

References

• Burwell, C.J., Nakamura, A. 2020. Rainforest ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) along an elevational gradient at Eungella in the Clarke Range, Central Queensland coast, Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 125: 43-63.
• Clark, J. 1951. The Formicidae of Australia. 1. Subfamily Myrmeciinae: 230 pp. CSIRO, Melbourne. [(31.xii).1951.]
• Crawley, W. C. 1926. A revision of some old types of Formicidae. Trans. Entomol. Soc. Lond. 1925: 373-393 (page 381, see also)
• Imai, H. T.; Crozier, R. H.; Taylor, R. W. 1977. Karyotype evolution in Australian ants. Chromosoma (Berl.) 59: 341-393 (page 345, karyotype described)
• Liu, S.-P., Richter, A., Stoessel, A., Beutel, R.G. 2019. The mesosomal anatomy of Myrmecia nigrocincta workers and evolutionary transformations in Formicidae (Hymenoptera). Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny 77(1): 1-19 (DOI 10.26049/ASP77-1-2019-01).
• Mayr, G. 1876. Die australischen Formiciden. J. Mus. Godeffroy 12: 56-115 (page 95, male described)
• 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).
• Ogata, K. 1991a. Ants of the genus Myrmecia Fabricius: a review of the species groups and their phylogenetic relationships (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmeciinae). Syst. Entomol. 16: 353-381 (page 359, see also)
• Palavalli-Nettimi, R., Ogawa, Y., Ryan, L.A., Hart, N.S., Narendra, A. 2019. Miniaturisation reduces contrast sensitivity and spatial resolving power in ants. Journal of Experimental Biology, jeb.203018 (doi:10.1242/jeb.203018).
• Roger, J. 1861a. Die Ponera-artigen Ameisen (Schluss). Berl. Entomol. Z. 5: 1-54 (page 36, queen described)
• Smith, F. 1858b. Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part VI. Formicidae. London: British Museum, 216 pp. (page 147, worker described)
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1971d. Ant larvae of the subfamily Myrmeciinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Pan-Pac. Entomol. 47: 245-256 (page 251, larva described)
• Wheeler, G.C. 1933. Colony-founding among ants, with an account of some primitive Australian species. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Forel A. 1915. Results of Dr. E. Mjöbergs Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910-13. 2. Ameisen. Ark. Zool. 9(16): 1-119
• Imai H. T., R. H. Crozier, and R. W. Taylor. 1977. Karyotype evolution in Australian ants. Chromosoma 59: 341-393.
• Osunkoya O. O., C. Polo, and A. N. Andersen. 2011. Invasion impacts on biodiversity: response of ant communities to infestation by cat's claw creeper vine, Macfadyena unguis-cati (Bignoniaceae) in subtropical Australia. Biol. Invasions 13: 2289-2302.
• Taylor R. W., and D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. Zoological Catalogue of Australia 2: 1-149.