Myrmecia regularis

Myrmecia regularis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmeciinae
Tribe:	Myrmeciini
Genus:	Myrmecia
Species group:	gulosa
Species:	M. regularis
Binomial name
Myrmecia regularis Crawley, 1925 Specimen Labels

The bloodred Myrmecia regularis is common in more southerly regions of the SWBP, particularly the karri belt near the south-west coast.

At a Glance

• Brachypterous Queen

Photo Gallery

• 

  A wonderfully blood-red Myrmecia regularis worker found during a night-time descent of Mt Trio, Gnowangerup, Western Australia. Photo by Farhan Bokhari, 22 December 2009.
• 

  Myrmecia regularis from Gnowangerup, Western Australia. Photo by Farhan Bokhari, 23 April 2011.

Identification

Keys including this Species

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

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -27.672817° to -38.34999847°.

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.

Biology

Wheeler (1933 p. 25-29) - M. regularis does not build mounds but nests in rather damp, black earth under logs or large stones in colonies of as many as 100-200 workers. Nocturnal and diurnal foragers, climbing the great trunks of the eucalypts in search of sap and nectar and ruthlessly seizing any small insects encountered on their path. Independent colony foundation is non-claustral.

Castes

Queen is brachypterous, i.e. short, non-functional wings are present at adult emergence (Haskins & Haskins 1955). These wings break off before dispersal on foot, and a foundress starts a new colony by non-claustral ICF (see Life History). Brachypterous queens retain unfused flight sclerites in the thorax. The short wings are often broken within hours of emergence, and wing scars give the impression of a queen capable of flying.

Dealate brachypterous queen of M. regularis. From Harvard MCZ collection. Photograph by Roberto A. Keller

Dealate brachypterous queen of M. regularis. From Harvard MCZ collection. Photograph by Roberto A. Keller

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.

• regularis. Myrmecia regularis Crawley, 1925b: 579 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
  • Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated).
  • Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, Albany, no. 322 (J. Clark).
  • Type-depository: OXUM.
  • Clark, 1951: 92 (subapterous q. m.).
  • Junior synonym of lucida: Clark, 1927: 34.
  • Status as species: Wheeler, W.M. 1933i: 25; Clark, 1951: 91 (redescription); Taylor & Brown, 1985: 15; Taylor, 1987a: 45; Ogata, 1991a: 358; Ogata & Taylor, 1991: 1635 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 273; Heterick, 2009: 120.
  • Distribution: Australia.

Type Material

• Syntype, 1 worker, Albany, Western Australia, Australia, Australian Museum.
• Syntype, 2 workers, Albany, Western Australia, Australia, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Syntype, worker(s), Albany, Western Australia, Australia, <collector unknown>, ANIC32-006585, Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

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

Description

Worker

Major. Length 14 mm. (without mandibles); length of mandibles 3.6 mm.

Minor. Length 10 mm.

Whole of head and thorax bright mahogany-red, legs duller, mandibles and scapes shaded with brown, gaster black.

Pilosity as in forficata; pubescence almost nil.

Mandibles somewhat longer and slenderer and the outer borders less concave than in forficata. The scape reaches slightly further beyond the occipital border. 'l'he occipital angles more rounded.

Whole thorax narrower, the pronotum narrower in front; the base of epinotum pointed in front and the angle between the two faces more pronounced. The stalk of the first node is longer and the node more cubic in profile. There is a distinct longitudinal impression down the centre of pronotum and epinotum.

Whole body shining. Head very clearly and regularly striate, the striae diverging slightly behind the eyes. There is no trace of rugosity. The striation is more clean-cut than in sanguinea and there is no ground-reticulation between the striae as in that species. There is a microscopical reticulation between the eyes and frontal carinae.

The whole striation of thorax is of this clean-cut description; on the pronotum it is transversely arched and on the rest transverse. The first node is superficially transversely striate and has a few indistinct punctures. The second node and gaster are microscopically reticulate.

References

• Clark, J. 1927. The ants of Victoria. Part III. Vic. Nat. (Melb.) 44: 33-40 (page 34, Junior synonym of lucida)
• Clark, J. 1951. The Formicidae of Australia. 1. Subfamily Myrmeciinae: 230 pp. CSIRO, Melbourne. [(31.xii).1951.]
• Crawley, W. C. 1925b. New ants from Australia. - II. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 9(16): 577-598.
• Haskins, C. & Haskins, E. 1955: The pattern of colony foundation in the archaic ant Myrmecia regularis. Insectes Sociaux 2: 115–126.
• Heterick, B. E. 2009a. A guide to the ants of South-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 76: 1-206. Part 2.
• 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).
• Johnson, R.A. 2010. Independent colony founding by ergatoid queens in the ant genus Pogonomyrmex: queen foraging provides an alternative to dependent colony founding. Insectes Sociaux 57, 169–176 (doi:10.1007/s00040-010-0065-6).
• 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, W. M. 1933i. Colony founding among ants, with an account of some primitive Australian species. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, viii + 179 pp. (page 25, Revived from synonymy)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• 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.