Perissomyrmex monticola

AntWiki: The Ants --- Online
Perissomyrmex monticola
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Crematogastrini
Genus: Perissomyrmex
Species: P. monticola
Binomial name
Perissomyrmex monticola
De Andrade, 1993

Perissomyrmex monticola casent0901730 p 1 high.jpg

Perissomyrmex monticola casent0901730 d 1 high.jpg

Specimen Labels

Synonyms

The types were collected together with some workers of Myrmica rugosa s.l. from which they ate virtually indistinguishable in size and colour without microscopic examination.

Identification

De Andrade (1993). A Perissomyrmex species in which the worker has no subpetiolar process, essentially smooth pleuron 2 and propodeum, and very lightly striate mandibles.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 11.5° to 11.5°.

 
North
Temperate
North
Subtropical
Tropical South
Subtropical
South
Temperate

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Oriental Region: Bhutan (type locality), India, Nepal.

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

Perissomyrmex monticola casent0913029 h 1 high.jpgPerissomyrmex monticola casent0913029 p 1 high.jpgPerissomyrmex monticola casent0913029 d 1 high.jpgPerissomyrmex monticola casent0913029 l 1 high.jpg
Holotype of Perissomyrmex monticolaWorker. Specimen code casent0913029. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Perissomyrmex monticola casent0913030 h 1 high.jpgPerissomyrmex monticola casent0913030 p 1 high.jpgPerissomyrmex monticola casent0913030 d 1 high.jpgPerissomyrmex monticola casent0913030 l 1 high.jpg
Holotype of Perissomyrmex nepalensisWorker. Specimen code casent0913030. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. Owned by NHMB, Basel, Switzerland.
Xu and Zhang 2012 Perissomyrmex monticola.png
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Nomenclature

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

  • monticola. Perissomyrmex monticola De Andrade, in Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 1993: 90, figs. 1-3 (w.q.) BHUTAN.
    • Type-material: holotype worker, 1 paratype worker, 1 paratype queen.
    • Type-locality: holotype Bhutan: Nobding, 41 km. E Wangdi Phodrang, 2800 m., Nat. Hist. Mus. Basel Bhutan Expd., 1972 (no collector’s name); paratypes with same data.
    • Type-depository: NHMB.
    • Status as species: Bolton, 1995b: 316 Radchenko, 2003: 18 (in key); Xu & Wang, 2004: 219 (in key); Zhou & Huang, 2006: 194 (in key); Ogata & Okido, 2007: 360 (redescription); Xu & Zhang, 2012: 149 (in key); Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 41.
    • Senior synonym of nepalensis: Xu & Zhang, 2012: 153.
    • Distribution: Bhutan, India, Nepal.
  • nepalensis. Perissomyrmex nepalensis Radchenko, 2003: 14, figs. 1-10 (w.) NEPAL, INDIA (West Bengal).
    • Type-material: holotype worker, 4 paratype workers.
    • Type-locality: holotype Nepal: Kosi, Chanki, 27°11’-12’N, 87°27’-28’E, 2600-3000 m., 22-24.vi.2001, no. 221c, NHMB Expd. Nepal, 2001 (no collector’s name); paratypes: 1 worker with same data, 3 workers India: West Bengal, Darjeeling, Tiger Hill, 2450 m., 28.viii.1997 (G. Cuccodoro).
    • Type-depositories: NHMB (holotype); BMNH, NHMB (paratypes).
    • Status as species: Zhou & Huang, 2006: 193 (in key); Ogata & Okido, 2007: 361 (redescription).
    • Junior synonym of monticola: Xu & Zhang, 2012: 153.

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

Description

Worker

Head large, with convex sides. No ocelli. Eyes protruding, at about the middle of the sides of the head, their maximum diameter ca equal to scape width. Frontal area subtriangular. Frontal carinae with a small lobe leaving both the base of the scape and the antennal fossae exposed. Clypeus with four teeth on its anterior border: the central pair 3 times as large as the two external teeth. Funiculi 8-jointed with the last three joints enlarged to form a poorly distinct club, the last joint subequal in length to the first and second joints combined. Mandibles elongate, very lightly striate, with four teeth interpretable as: one basal, one median, one preapical, and one apical. The median tooth is separated by a wide diastema from the preapical tooth.

Trunk with a poorly distinguishable promesonotal suture. Propodeal impression well developed. Propodeum with a pair of sharp divergent spines directed backwards. Propodeal spiracles round, well visible. Posterior legs almost as long as the whole body. Middle and posterior tibiae without spurs.

Petiole about 3 times longer than broad, its node oval in dorsal view and rounded in profile. Subpetiolar process absent. Postpetiole equally round in profile, almost 1/3 broader than the petiole, approximately subequal in length and height. Gaster round, with the first segment approximately 3 times longer than the sum of the remaining ones.

Sculpture. Head capsule and thorax heavily striate. Mandibles very lightly striate. Pleuron 2 and propodeum smooth. Petiolar and postpetiolar nodes smooth and with the dorsal and lateral portions very lightly striate. Legs and gaster smooth, completely without sculpture.

Colour dominantly shining brown, antennae, mandibles and legs shining yellowish.

Pilosity. Body hairs essentially of four different types: a) generalized body hairs, pointed and slender, ca 0.08-0.20 mm long, regularly distributed on most body surfaces except the sides of the trunk where they are missing; b) mandibular hairs, very similar to the previous ones, but consistently slightly shorter; c) a row of macrochetae of variable length but longer than the remaining body pilosity, and located on the anterior border of the clypeus; d) a much more dense and minute appressed pilosity on the feet and on the funiculi.


Ogata and Okido (2007) - TL 4.6, HL 1.12, HW 1.08, SL 0.92, PW 0.64, AL 1.24, GL 1.35, GW 0.96. Indices: CI 96.4, , SI 85.2.

Four teeth of anterior margin of clypeus well isolated; median paired teeth large and distinct; lateral paired teeth small and their tip not reaching the level of the bottom of median notch; median notch converted V shape; the bottom of notch not reaching the level of anterior margin of lateral ridge in front of antennal insertion; distance between a median teeth closer than that between a median tooth and a lateral tooth; position of lateral tooth just below in the middle of toruli. Promesonotum forming single raised convex. Propodeal spines long and acute, directing backward and curved upward. Propodeal lobe low and rounded. Following the restriction on anterior articulator portion to mesosoma, sides of petiole almost parallel in dorsal view.

Posterior face of postpetiolar node declined. Head capsule and mesosoma heavily striate. Mandibles very lightly striate. Mesopleural area, propodeum smooth and shining, petiole smooth and shining.

Body bicolored, with dark brown head and mesosoma and reddish gaster, antennae and legs yellowish.

Queen

Measurements (in mm) and indices: total length (mandibles included) 5.32; head length 1.20; head width 1.20; scape length 1.00; eye length 0.16; trunk length 1.40; pronotum width 0.84; petiole length 0.48; petiole maximum width 0.20; postpetiole length 0.32; postpetiole maximum width 0.24; gaster width 1.20; Cephalic Index 100; Scape Index 83.3; Petiolar Index 41.6; Postpetiolar Index 75.0.

Besides the differences in size, very similar to the worker from which it differs essentially in the following characters that are obviously correlated with caste determination.

Head with three ocelli disposed on the vertices of an inverted triangle. Trunk dorsally flat at the propodeal declivity. Promesonotal suture deep. Mesonotal disc circular. Scutellum constituted by two regions: a rectangular prescutellum, 3 times broader than long and an inverted triangular postscutellum, its maximum length about twice as long as the prescutellum.

Gaster round, with the first segment approximately 2 times longer than the sum of the remaining ones.

Colour. Head, trunk and abdominal pedicel shining dark brown, gaster shining brownish, antennae, mandibles and legs shining yellowish.

Ogata and Okido (2007) - TL 5.32, HL 1.20, HW 1.20; CI 100, SL 1.00, SI 75, PW 0.84, AL 1.52, GW 1.20, GL 1.56.

Type Material

Holotype. Worker, Nobding, 41 km E, of Wangdi Phodrang, 2800 m, Natural History Museum Basel Bhutan Expedition, 1972. Deposited in the collection of the Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel. Paratypes. One worker missing the right antenna and the right second leg and one dealate female, same data and same collection as the holotype.

Etymology

From the Latin substantive monticola (=living on the mountains).

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

  • Ogata K.; H. Okido. 2007. Revision of the ant genus Perissomyrmex with notes on the phylogeny of the tribe Myrmecinini. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 80:352-369.
  • Radchenko A. 2003. Perissomyrmex nepalensis sp. nov. - new evidence of Old World origins for the genus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Entomologica Basiliensia 25: 13-22.