Nesomyrmex humerosus

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Nesomyrmex humerosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Nesomyrmex
Species group: humerosus
Species: N. humerosus
Binomial name
Nesomyrmex humerosus
(Emery, 1896)

Nesomyrmex humerosus casent0904729 p 1 high.jpg

Nesomyrmex humerosus casent0904729 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

N. humerosus is known to occur in Kenya, Tanzania and Yemen. It is a rather rarely collected species and our scarce knowledge is based on just four collection events. Based on a sample collected in Kenya by the first author, it seems to live on vegetation, but it was also sampled from the ground in Tanzania and Yemen. It is possible that the species also occurs in other East African countries, such as Somalia and Mozambique, which are greatly under-sampled. (Hita Garcia et al 2017)

Identification

A member of the humerosus species-group. This very distinctive species is easily separable from all other known African forms by its flat-margined clypeal lobe, deep metanotal groove, large eyes, sharply marginate pronotum with dentate corners and sharply triangular petiole node. (Bolton 1982)

Sharaf et al. (2017) Arabian Peninsula - The following character combination distinguishes N. humerosus from the other members of the group in the Arabian Peninsula: anterior clypeal lobe short, flat-margined, and never convex, with small median triangular projection; clypeus without median longitudinal carina; pronotum anterodorsally sharply marginate, with sharp, dentate corners; in profile mesosomal outline conspicuously concave; petiole barrel-shaped with very weakly developed, short and triangular petiolar node.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -3.321° to -4.04028°.

 
North
Temperate 		North
Subtropical 		Tropical South
Subtropical 		South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Afrotropical Region: Kenya, United Republic of Tanzania, Yemen.

Distribution based on AntMaps

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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.
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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.
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Biology

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Nesomyrmex humerosus casent0906196 h 1 high.jpgNesomyrmex humerosus casent0906196 p 1 high.jpgNesomyrmex humerosus casent0906196 d 1 high.jpgNesomyrmex humerosus casent0906196 l 1 high.jpg
Worker. Specimen code casent0906196. Photographer Estella Ortega, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Nomenclature

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

  • humerosus. Leptothorax (Goniothorax) humerosus Emery, 1896g: 62 (w.) EAST AFRICA (no locality given, probably KENYA). Combination in Nesomyrmex: Bolton, 2003: 272. See also: Bolton, 1982: 329.

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

Description

Worker

Sharaf et al. (2017) - (n=3). HL 0.74–0.75; HW 0.70–0.71; SL 0.58–0.59; EL 0.27–0.28; PH 0.34–0.35; PW 0.52–0.53; WL 0.89–0.92; PSL 0.19–0.20; PTL 0.12–0.13; PTH 0.24–0.25; PTW 0.21–0.22; PPL 0.15–0.16; PPH 0.21–0.22; PPW 0.33–0.34; OI 39; SI 83; CI 95; DMI 58; LMI 38; PSLI 26–27; LPeI 50–52; DPeI 169–175; LPpI 71–73; DPpI 213–220; PPI 155–157.

Bolton (1982) - TL 3.7, HL 0.90, HW 0.75, CI 83, SL 0.64, SI 85, PW 0.52, AL 0.98

Mandibles almost smooth, with only vestigial traces of superficial sculpture. Median lobe of clypeus strongly produced, roughly rectangular, its anterior margin transverse and flat; the anterior margin meeting the sides of the lobe in a distinct angle. Median clypeal carina absent. Narrow weakly differentiated frontal carinae present which are scarcely stronger than the remaining cephalic sculpture but which reach back well beyond the level of the posterior margins of the eyes. Antennal scrobes absent. Antennal scapes moderately long, SI 85. Maximum diameter of eye 0.24, about 0.32 x HW and with 14-15 ommatidia in the longest row. With the head in full-face view the sides narrower in front of the eyes than behind and somewhat convergent anteriorly. Sides behind eyes rounding evenly into the occipital margin, the latter shallowly and evenly transversely convex. Pronotum sharply marginate laterally, the anterior pronotal corners dentate. With the alitrunk in profile the promesonotum convex, the metanotal groove deeply impressed. Propodeum broadly and evenly convex in profile, sloping down posteriorly to the long spines; the latter blunt apically and with their dorsal margins angled. Metapleural lobes low and rounded. Petiole in profile with the node triangular, rising to an acute peak above; anterior peduncle of petiole short. In dorsal view the sides of the petiole roughly parallel. Postpetiole much broader than petiole. Basal face of first gastral tergite transverse except for a median concavity where it articulates with the postpetiole. Dorsum of head everywhere sculptured with fine longitudinal rugulae and with a fine granular to punctulate superficial ground-sculpture. Dorsal alitrunk with ground-sculpture similar to head. Pronotum also with 7-8 broad, coarse longitudinal rugae which are almost sulcate in appearance and are most strongly developed anteriorly. These longitudinal rugae are continuous over the length of the promesonotum and also traverse the base of the metanotal groove, but they either fade out or become very weakly defined on the propodeum where a punctulate ground-sculpture predominates. Petiole and postpetiole finely and densely reticulate-punctulate, the first gastral tergite very densely finely shagreened and opaque. All dorsal surfaces of head and body with distinctive short stout blunt hairs. Body colour more or less uniform medium brown but the mandibles, clypeallobe and antennae yellow. Propodeal spines yellowish, lighter in colour than the propodeum itself.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Garcia F.H., Wiesel E. and Fischer G. 2013.The Ants of Kenya (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)—Faunal Overview, First Species Checklist, Bibliography, Accounts for All Genera, and Discussion on Taxonomy and Zoogeography. Journal of East African Natural History, 101(2): 127-222
  • Hita Garcia F., Mbanyana N., Audisio T. L., and G. D. Alpert. 2017. Taxonomy of the ant genus Nesomyrmex Wheeler (Formicidae, Myrmicinae) in the Afrotropical region, with a review of current species groups and description of a new species of the N. angulatus group from Mozambique. European Journal of Taxonomy 258: 1–31.
  • IZIKO South Africa Museum Collection
  • Sharaf M.R., S. A. Akbar, A. S. Aldawood, and F. Hita Garcia. 2017. Review of the ant genus Nesomyrmex Wheeler, 1910 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) from the Arabian Peninsula. African Invertebrates 58(2): 21–37.
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