Polyrhachis pallipes

Polyrhachis pallipes
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Formicinae
Tribe:	Camponotini
Genus:	Polyrhachis
Subgenus:	Aulacomyrma
Species:	P. pallipes
Binomial name
	Polyrhachis pallipes; Donisthorpe, 1948 Specimen labels

Little is known about the biology of Polyrhachis pallipes. Specimens have been collected from rainforest.

Identification

Kohout (2007) - The head and mesosoma of the holotype have almost completely lost the silvery or pale golden pubescence, that is still evident on the propodeal declivity and gastral dorsum. The anterodorsal process of the first gastral segment is well developed, almost as prominent as in Polyrhachis porcata. Specimens from Kokoda differ in several aspects, notably in the color of the antennal scapes, joints of the femora, tibiae and basal tarsal segments which are very dark brown.

Keys including this Species

Key to Polyrhachis (Aulacomyrma) species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -6.733329773° to -8.883330345°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: New Guinea (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.

Biology

Explore Overview of Aulacomyrma biology

The subgenus this species is a member of, Aulacomyrma, is poorly colected. Kohout (2007) summarized what is known about their biology in a revision of the species in the subgenus. This offers an explanation as to why most Aulacomyrma are known from few collections and specimens. There are only two records of nests being found. A small colony of Polyrhachis dohrni was collected by Kohout from a dry hollow twig on a living tree at the edge of lowland rainforest. The internal walls of the twig cavity were lined with a little silk. Ward collected a nest of Polyrhachis wardi from a dry twig of a rainforest tree. The colonies of both species were rather small, with only a few workers (5 and 11 respectively, including 2 and 3 alate queens and a single male). If such a nesting pattern is the norm for other species of the subgenus, that might explain the general scarcity of Aulacomyrma material even in the best collections. Many Aulacomyrma species are described and only known from a holotype.

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Castes

Known only from the worker caste.

Images from AntWeb


Worker. Specimen code castype06955. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by CAS, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Nomenclature

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

pallipes. Polyrhachis (Aulacomyrma) pallipes Donisthorpe, 1948d: 603 (w.) NEW GUINEA. See also: Kohout, 2007a: 203.

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

Description

Worker

Kohout (2007) - TL c. 4.48-4.98 (4.98); HL 1.15-1.28 (1.25); HW 1.03-1.12 (1.12); CI 87-91 (90); SL 1.22-1.31 (1.31); SI 114-118 (117); PW 0.94-1.06 (1.03); MTL 1.12-1.22 (1.18) (6 measured).

Anterior clypeal margin arcuate, with shallow notch medially; in lateral view basal margin only weakly impressed, indicated by hairline break in cephalic sculpture. Frontal triangle indistinct. Frontal carinae with strongly sinuate, laminate lobes. Sides of head weakly converging anteriorly; convex and more strongly converging posteriorly into preoccipital margin. Eyes weakly convex, in full face view not or only just reaching lateral cephalic outline. Mesosoma marginate along entire length. Pronotal dorsum armed with broad-based, anteriorly pointed teeth, their lateral margins shallowly emarginate at bases. Promesonotal suture distinct; metanotal groove lacking, position indicated by shallow emarginations in lateral margins. Propodeal dorsum descending into declivity in medially uninterrupted curve; lateral margins terminating posteriorly in short, blunt, processes resembling teeth in lateral view. Petiole with dorsal margin entire, acute; lateral spines relatively long, curved backwards and upwards. First gastral segment concave anteriorly, dorsal margin of concavity sharp and produced dorso-medially above dorsal surface of segment.

Sculpture of head consisting of somewhat irregularly spaced, mostly longitudinal striae, rather flat on clypeus and preoccipital margin, becoming stronger laterally. Mesosomal dorsum with mostly longitudinal striae, anteriorly converging on pronotal dorsum, V-shaped on propodeal dorsum. Anterior and posterior face of petiole shagreened. Gaster finely longitudinally striate; concavity of first gastral segment smooth and shiny.

Medium length, mostly erect, yellow to golden hairs scattered over entire body surfaces, longest on head and apically and ventrally on gaster, hairs shorter on mesosomal dorsum; only a few, short hairs on dorsum of first gastral segment. Appressed, mostly silvery pubescence on head, mesosoma and petiole; rich golden and dense pubescence on dorsum of first gastral segment, largely obscuring underlying sculpture.

Black; mandibular masticatory margin, distal ends of scapes and basal segments of funiculi light reddish brown; funicular segments becoming gradually lighter towards apex of antennae, apical segments light yellow. Trochanters, femora, tibiae and tarsi light yellow, except distal ends of femora and basal ends of tibiae and tarsi narrowly reddish-brown.

Type Material

Kohout (2007) - Holotype worker. Type locality: NEW GUINEA, Finschhafen (E. S. Ross), California Academy of Sciences (examined).

References

Donisthorpe, H. 1948d. A third instalment of the Ross Collection of ants from New Guinea. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 11(14): 589-604 (page 603, worker described)
Kohout, R.J. 2007a. Revision of the subgenus Aulacomyrma Emery of the genus Polyrhachis F. Smith, with descriptions of new species (pp. 186-253). In Snelling, R.R., Fisher, B.L. and Ward, P.S. (eds). Advances in ant systematics: homage to E.O. Wilson – 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute. 80:690 pp.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

CSIRO Collection
Chapman, J. W., and Capco, S. R. 1951. Check list of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Asia. Monogr. Inst. Sci. Technol. Manila 1: 1-327
Donisthorpe H. 1948. A third instalment of the Ross Collection of ants from New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (11)14: 589-604.
Janda M., G. D. Alpert, M. L. Borowiec, E. P. Economo, P. Klimes, E. Sarnat, and S. O. Shattuck. 2011. Cheklist of ants described and recorded from New Guinea and associated islands. Available on http://www.newguineants.org/. Accessed on 24th Feb. 2011.
Klimes P., P. Fibich, C. Idigel, and M. Rimandai. 2015. Disentangling the diversity of arboreal ant communities in tropical forest trees. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0117853. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0117853
Kohout R.J. 2007. Revision of the subgenus Aulacomyrma Emery of the genus Polyrhachis F. Smith, with descriptions of new species (pp. 186-253). In Snelling, R.R., Fisher, B.L. & Ward, P.S. (eds). Advances in ant systematics: homage to E.O. Wilson 50 years of contributions. Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute 80: 690 pp.
Robson Simon Database Polyrhachis -05 Sept 2014