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Protanilla taylori
| Protanilla taylori | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Leptanillinae |
| Tribe: | Leptanillini |
| Genus: | Protanilla |
| Species: | P. taylori |
| Binomial name | |
| Protanilla taylori (Bolton, 1990)
| |
This species is known from a single queen collected in a litter sample.
Identification
Protanilla taylori is known from a single dealate queen, with characters as described below.
Keys including this Species
Distribution
This taxon is known only from the type locality in Sabah, Malaysia.
Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Borneo (type locality), Indonesia, Malaysia.
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. |
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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
It does not appear that P. taylori, which is known only from Borneo, represents the gyne of Protanilla boltoni or Protanilla helenae (Borowiec et al., 2011; Griebenow, 2024).
Images from AntWeb
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| Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0101976. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences. | Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland. |
Known only from a single queen.
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- taylori. Anomalomyrma taylori Bolton, 1990b: 279, fig. 7 (q.) BORNEO (East Malaysia: Sabah).
- Status as species: Bolton, 1995b: 66; Borowiec, M.L. et al. 2011: 8; Pfeiffer, et al. 2011: 44.
- Combination in Protanilla: Griebenow, 2024: 118.
Type Material
The holotype and only known specimen of this species is a dealate female from EAST MALAYSIA: Sabah. Kinabalu Nat. Park, 1400 m, 22.v. 1987, no. 35a (Burckhardt & Lobi) (MHN, Geneva). It was recovered from a litter sample; no workers attributable to this species were present in the sample.
Description
Queen
The structure of the petiole and postpetiole in the holotype is very peculiar. The sternites are fused into a single plate which itself is fused laterally to the tergites, so that there is no possibility of flexion between these segments. The alitrunk is large and has a full complement of flight sclerites. Vestiges of wingbases indicate that this female was alate when virgin. As in Apomyrma the pronotum is large and forms an extensive part of the dorsal alitrunk. The holotype female is a moderately sized ant, with standard measurements of TL 6.0, HL 0.96, HW 1.08 (immediately behind eyes), SL 1. 13, PW 0.98, AL 1.92.
References
- Bolton, B. 1990d. The higher classification of the ant subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Syst. Entomol. 15: 267-282 (page 279, fig. 7 queen described)
- Borowiec, M.L., Schulz, A., Alpert, G.D., Banar, P. 2011. Discovery of the worker caste and description of two new species of Anomalomyrma with unique abdominal morphology. Zootaxa 2810: 1-14.
- Griebenow, Z. 2024. Systematic revision of the ant subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 1189, 83–184 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.1189.107506).
- Yamada, A., Van Dang, A., Eguchi, K. 2023. Natural history notes of the rare enigmatic ant Opamyrma hungvuong: A first glimpse of their preying behavior on centipedes (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Leptanillinae). Asian Myrmecology 16, e016009 (doi:10.20362/am.016009).
References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics
- Bolton B. 1990. The higher classification of the ant subfamily Leptanillinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Syst. Entomol. 15: 267-282
- Pfeiffer M.; Mezger, D.; Hosoishi, S.; Bakhtiar, E. Y.; Kohout, R. J. 2011. The Formicidae of Borneo (Insecta: Hymenoptera): a preliminary species list. Asian Myrmecology 4:9-58