Myrmica villosa

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Myrmica villosa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Myrmicini
Genus: Myrmica
Species: M. villosa
Binomial name
Myrmica villosa
Radchenko & Elmes, 1999

Myrmica villosa P casent0900339.jpg

Myrmica villosa D casent0900339.jpg

Specimen Label

Virtually unknown, except that the type series were found at the altitude 3300m above mean sea level (Bharti et al., 2016).

Identification

Radchenko and Elmes (2010) – A member of the pachei group, and is closely related to M. pachei, differing from the latter mainly by a denser sculpture of the head dorsum, by its more abundant, long, thin, fine, curved body hairs and longer hairs on legs, and by the lighter, brownish red colour of the alitrunk, waist and gaster. These two species differ from all other known species of the pachei-group by having only transversal striations on the alitrunk dorsum.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Known only from the type locality in Bhutan.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Bhutan (type locality), India.

Distribution based on AntMaps

AntMapLegend.png

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.
pChart

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.
pChart

Biology

Castes

Males have yet to be collected.

Nomenclature

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

  • villosa. Myrmica villosa Radchenko & Elmes, 1999a: 31, fig. 1 (6-12) (w.q.) BHUTAN. See also: Radchenko & Elmes, 2010: 318.

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

Description

Type Material

Holotype, w, Dechli Palm, 5 km 0 Pelela, 3300 m, 19-20.06.1972 (Natural history Museum Basel Bhutan Expedition, 1972) (Basle); paratypes: 15 w, 1 q with the same label (Basle, London, Kiev, Elmes).

Etymology

Radchenko and Elmes (2010) - from the adjective villose derived from the Latin word villus = shaggy hair, to describe the pilosity of the body.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Bharti H. 2011. List of Indian ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Halteres 3: 79-87.
  • Bharti H., S. Sasi, and A. Radchenko. 2016. Biogeography and ecology of Myrmica species (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) in Himalayan regions. Sociobiology 63(3): 956-975.
  • Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 1999. Ten new species of Myrmica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from the Himalaya. Vestnik Zoologii 33(3): 27-46.
  • Radchenko A. G., and G. W. Elmes. 2010. Myrmica ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Old World. Fauna Mundi 3. Warsaw: Natura Optima Dux Foundation, 790 pp.
  • Radchenko A. G.; and G. W. Elmes. 2009. Taxonomic revision of the pachei species-group of the genus Myrmica Latreille (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 59: 67-92.