Paraparatrechina neela

Paraparatrechina neela
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Lasiini
Genus:	Paraparatrechina
Species:	P. neela
Binomial name
Paraparatrechina neela Sahanashree, Punnath & Rajan Priyadarsanan, 2024

The only known specimens of Paraparatrechina neela were collected from a secondary forest at an elevation of 803 m in Yingku village, East Siang District, Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India (Fig. 1). This area has a tropical and humid-subtropical climate, with temperatures of 18–28 °C and an average annual rainfall of 4168 mm (Yumnam et al. 2013; Yogesh Kumar et al. 2022). The specimens were collected from debris in a hole in a tree trunk 3m above the ground.

Photo Gallery

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  Sahanashree et al. (2024), Figure 3. Paraparatrechina neela, holotype worker AIMB/Hy/Fr 25006. A, head in full-face view. B, body in dorsal view. C, body in profile view.
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  Sahanashree et al. (2024), Figure 4. Paraparatrechina neela, holotype worker AIMB/Hy/Fr 25006. A, clypeus and mandibles. B, mesosoma in profile view. C, mesosoma in dorsal view. D, gaster in dorsal view.

Identification

Paraparatrechina neela has the following unique combination of characters:

1. body opaque and largely metallic blue, except antennae, mandibles, and legs
2. total length < 2 mm
3. eyes large relative to head length (REL > 22
4. scape with appressed pubescence and scape surpasses posterior margin of head by approximately length of first 4 funicular segments
5. propodeal dorsal face short and angular, with a long declivitous face.

Paraparatrechina neela is easily distinguishable from all known species of Paraparatrechina by its metallic-blue body. It can be separated from Paraparatrechina aseta, the only other known species from the Indian subcontinent (Fig. 5A–C) by the following characteristics:

1. body largely metallic blue, except antennae, mandibles, and legs in P. neela (body uniformly light brown in P. aseta)
2. in full-face view, head subtriangular with strongly convex lateral margin in P. neela (head subrectangular with gently convex lateral margin in P. aseta)
3. anterior clypeal margin convex in P. neela (anterior clypeal margin medially concave in P. aseta)
4. mandible with five teeth in the masticatory margin in P. neela (mandible with six teeth in P. aseta)
5. propodeal dorsal face in lateral view raised in P. neela (propodeal dorsal margin flat and continuous with rest of mesosoma in P. aseta).

Paraparatrechina neela is similar to Paraparatrechina butteli bryanti, another Indomalayan species (Wheeler 1919), in body size, eye length, antennal scape surpassing occipital margin, and a raised propodeal dorsal face with a long declivitous face. However, P. neela can be easily separated from P. butteli bryanti by the following characteristics:

1. body largely metallic blue in P. neela (body castaneous brown; head, thorax, and gaster with metallic reflections in P. butteli bryanti)
2. legs with thick appressed pubescence in P. neela (legs with sparse pubescence in P. butteli bryanti)
3. overall body opaque with fine punctures in P. neela (thorax and gaster distinctly shagreened in P. butteli bryanti)
4. head subtriangular, longer than wide in P. neela (head subrectangular, as long as wide in P. butteli bryanti).

Keys including this Species

• Key Paraparatrechina of the Indian subcontinent

Distribution

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  Sahanashree et al. (2024), Figure 1. Map showing the type locality of P. neela in the Yingku Village, Arunachal Pradesh, northeastern India. A, India, with the North East Region (NER) shown in gray. B, states of the NER with type locality in Arunachal Pradesh. C, Arunachal Pradesh showing the location of the type locality (Yingku village). D, Google Earth satellite image showing the type locality (Source: Google Earth Pro 2023, accessed on 11 February 2024).

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 28.5° to 28.5°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: Sahanashree et al., 2024

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: India (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.

• neela. Paraparatrechina neela Sahanashree et al., 2024: 164, figs. 3, 4 (w.) INDIA (Arunachal Pradesh).

Type Material

• Holotype: worker, point mounted. Original label: “India: Arunachal Pradesh, East Siang District, Yingku Village, 28.4606°N, 94.8841°E, 803 m a.s.l., aspirator, 7 May 2022, Priyadarsanan DR leg.”; AIMB/Hy/Fr 25006.
• Paratype: 1 worker; same data as holotype; AIMB/Hy/Fr 25007.

References

• Sahanashree, R., Punnath, A., Rajan Priyadarsanan, D. 2024. A remarkable new species of Paraparatrechina Donisthorpe 1947 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Formicinae) from the Eastern Himalayas, India. ZooKeys 1203, 159–172 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.1203.114168).