Orectognathus clarki

Orectognathus clarki
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Attini
Genus:	Orectognathus
Species:	O. clarki
Binomial name
Orectognathus clarki Brown, 1953 Specimen Labels

Described from southern Victoria, this species had previously been recorded from high rainfall areas near the south coast (WA), notably the Porongorup and Stirling Ranges. Recently, a worker was collected by vegetation vacuuming in the Worsley mining area south-east of Perth. This constitutes a first record for Jarrah-Marri woodland in the Darling Range. (Heterick 2009)

Photo Gallery

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  Orectognathus clarki worker. These ants are slow moving ants and primarily forage at night. Gnowangerup, Western Australia. Photo by Farhan Bokhari, 24 December 2009.
• 

  Orectognathus clarki worker. These ants are slow moving ants and primarily forage at night. Gnowangerup, Western Australia. Photo by Farhan Bokhari, 24 December 2009.

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Australian Orectognathus Species
• Key to Myrmicinae genera of the southwestern Australian Botanical Province

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -21.18333054° to -42.93333333°.

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.

Nomenclature

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

• clarki. Orectognathus clarki Brown, 1953k: 94, figs. 1, 2 (w.q.m.) AUSTRALIA. Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1955a: 126 (l.); Crozier, 1968b: 87 (k.). See also: Bolton, 2000: 21.

Type Material

• Holotype, worker, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers, Millgrove, Victoria, Australia, Dixon,J.E., ANIC32-010692, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers, 1 queen, Trevallyn, Tasmania, Australia, Hickman,V.V., ANIC32-010693, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 3 workers, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Brown,W.L., ANIC32-010694, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Brown,W.L., ANIC32-010695, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 6 workers, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Spry,F.P., ANIC32-010696, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 4 workers, 1 queen, Woori Yallock, Victoria, Australia, Thorn,L.B., ANIC32-010697, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers, Toowoomba , Queensland, Australia, Dumigan,E.J., ANIC32-010698, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 4 workers, 2 queens, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Clark,J., ANIC32-010699, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers, 1 queen, 2 males, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Clark,J., ANIC32-010700, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 3 workers, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, Lea,A.M., ANIC32-010701, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers, Tasmania, Australia, Blackburn, ANIC32-010704, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 1 worker, 1 queen, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, Cole,C.E., ANIC32-010708, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 6 workers, Dorrigo, New South Wales, Australia, Heron,W., ANIC32-010709, Australian National Insect Collection.
• Paratype, 2 workers (W.L.Brown), 1 queen (F.E.Wilson), Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Queensland Museum.
• Paratype, 3 workers, Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, 3 September 1950, W.L. Brown, South Australian Museum.
• Paratype, 3 workers (3 Sept 1950) and 1 queen (14 Sept 1950), Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia, Western Australian Museum.

Description

Karyotype

• See additional details at the Ant Chromosome Database.

 Explore: Show all Karyotype data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.

• 2n = 30 (Australia) (Crozier, 1968d).

References

• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1953k. A revision of the dacetine ant genus Orectognathus. Mem. Qld. Mus. 13: 84-104 (page 94, figs. 1, 2 worker, queen, male described)
• Brown, W. L., Jr. 1954c [1953]. The neotropical species of the ant genus Strumigenys Fr. Smith: group of elongata Roger. J. N. Y. Entomol. Soc. 61: 189-200.
• Crozier, R. H. 1968c. The chromosomes of three Australian dacetine ant species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Psyche (Camb.) 75: 87-90 (page 87, karyotype 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).
• Jacintho, G.de F., Vieira, E.M.de A., Teixeira, G.A., Lopes, D.M., Serrão, J.E. 2024. First karyotype description for Acanthognathus rudis Brown & Kempf, 1969 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae) with notes on its natural history. Sociobiology 71(3), e10778 (doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v71i3.10778).
• Wheeler, G. C.; Wheeler, J. 1955a [1954]. The ant larvae of the myrmicine tribes Basicerotini and Dacetini. Psyche (Camb.) 61: 111-145 (page 126, larva described)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

• Bolton, B. 2000. The Ant Tribe Dacetini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 65
• Brown W. L. Jr. 1953. A revision of the dacetine ant genus Orectognathus. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 13: 84-104.
• Brown W. L., Jr. 1958. A supplement to the revisions of the dacetine ant genera Orectognathus and Arnoldidris, with keys to the species. Psyche (Camb.) 64: 17-29.
• CSIRO Collection
• Lowery B. B., and R. J. Taylor. 1994. Occurrence of ant species in a range of sclerophyll forest communities at Old Chum Dam, north-eastern Tasmania. Australian Entomologist 21: 11-14.
• Sinclair J. E., and T. R. New. 2004. Pine plantations in south eastern Australia support highly impoverished ant assemblages (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Insect Conservation 8: 277-286.
• Taylor R. W. 1979. New Australian ants of the genus Orectognathus, with summary description of the twenty-nine known species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Australian Journal of Zoology 27: 773-788.
• 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.
• Taylor R. W., and D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. Zoological Catalogue of Australia 2: 1-149.