Dolichoderus taprobanae

Dolichoderus taprobanae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Dolichoderinae
Tribe:	Dolichoderini
Genus:	Dolichoderus
Species:	D. taprobanae
Binomial name
Dolichoderus taprobanae (Smith, F., 1858) Specimen Labels
Subspecies
Dolichoderus taprobanae borneensis Forel, 1911 Dolichoderus taprobanae ceramensis Stitz, 1912 Dolichoderus taprobanae friedrichsi Forel, 1914 Dolichoderus taprobanae gracilipes Mayr, 1879 Dolichoderus taprobanae siamensis Forel, 1911
Synonyms
Dolichoderus semirufus André, 1887 Dolichoderus taprobanae obscuripes Santschi, 1920 Dolichoderus taprobanae tonkina Santschi, 1920 Formica ingruens Walker, 1859 Hypoclinea gracilis Motschoulsky, 1863

Nothing is known about the biology of Dolichoderus taprobanae.

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Dolichoderus of China
• Key to the Dolichoderus thoracicus species-group in Thailand

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 32.628611° to 2.3234°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia.
Oriental Region: India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka (type locality), Vietnam.
Palaearctic Region: China.

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.

Castes

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Holotype of Formica ingruens. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0902972. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Holotype of Dolichoderus taprobanae. Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0902971. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Nomenclature

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

• taprobanae. Formica taprobane Smith, F. 1858b: 13 (q.) SRI LANKA. Bingham, 1903: 296 (w.). Combination in Dolichoderus: Mayr, 1886c: 353; in D. (Hypoclinea): Emery, 1913a: 14. Senior synonym of gracilis: Emery, 1913a: 14; Wheeler, W.M. 1919e: 99; of ingruens: Donisthorpe, 1932b: 575; of semirufus: Forel, 1895e: 466; Bingham, 1903: 296; of obscuripes, tonkina: Xu, 1995a: 35. Current subspecies: nominal plus borneensis, ceramensis, friedrichsi, gracilipes, siamensis.
• ingruens. Formica ingruens Walker, 1859: 372 (q.) SRI LANKA. Junior synonym of taprobanae: Donisthorpe, 1932b: 575.
• gracilis. Hypoclinea gracilis Motschoulsky, 1863: 14 (w.) SRI LANKA. Junior synonym of taprobanae: Emery, 1913a: 14.
• semirufus. Dolichoderus semirufus André, 1887: 288 (w.) VIETNAM. Junior synonym of gracilipes: Emery, 1889b: 509 (footnote); of taprobanae: Forel, 1895e: 466; Bingham, 1903: 296.
• obscuripes. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) taprobanae var. obscuripes Santschi, 1920h: 169 (w.q.) LAOS. [Also described as new by Santschi, 1924c: 109.] Junior synonym of taprobanae: Xu, 1995a: 35.
• tonkina. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) taprobanae var. tonkina Santschi, 1920h: 170 (w.) VIETNAM. [Also described as new by Santschi, 1924c: 109.] Junior synonym of taprobanae: Xu, 1995a: 35.

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

Description

Worker

Bingham (1903): Head, thorax and pedicel brownish red, legs paler, abdomen black ; bead, thorax and abdomen with a few scattered erect, short, soft pale hairs and a thin sericeous pale pubescence. Head with the mandibles subtriangular, broader posteriorly than in front, smooth and shining; cheeks convex ; mandibles, clypeus, antennal carinae and antennae as in all the Indian species of the genus; eyes placed more anteriorly than in D. feae or D. sulcaticeps. Thorax laterally compressed, the pronotum slightly convex, anteriorly margined ; mesonotum longitudinally sulcate and bigibbous, the meso-metanotal emargination deep and well-marked; the metanotum with the basal and apical portions subequal, the former horizontal, the latter truncate and slightly concave; legs robust. Node of the pedicel low, slightly convex in front, transverse above; abdomen rather massive, broadly oval.

Length: 2.5 - 3.3 mm

Queen

Smith (1858): Head, antennae, thorax and legs red; abdomen black. Head subovate, the front convex, finely roughened and semi-opake, very slightly emarginate behind. The thorax rugose, the scutellum and metathorax coarsely so; the wings hyaline, the stigma large and brown, the nervures pale testaceous; the anterior pair with one discoidal cell; the tarsi pale testaceous, the claw-joint black. Abdomen black, shining, and globose.

Type Material

Dill (2002) - Queen, Sri Lanka (The Natural History Museum). Holotype.

References

• Dill, M. 2002. Taxonomy of the migrating herdsman species of the genus Dolichoderus Lund, 1831, with remarks on the systematics of other Southeast-Asian Dolichoderus. Pp. 17-113 in: Dill, M., Williams, D. J. and U. Maschwitz. 2002. Herdsmen ants and their mealybug partners. Abhandlungen der Senckenbergischen Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main. 557:1-373.
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• Bingham, C. T. 1903. The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera, Vol. II. Ants and Cuckoo-wasps. London: Taylor and Francis, 506 pp. (page 296, worker described)
• Brassard, F., Leong, C.-M., Chan, H.-H., Guénard, B. 2021. High diversity in urban areas: How comprehensive sampling reveals high ant species richness within one of the most urbanized regions of the world. Diversity 13, 358 (doi:10.3390/d13080358).
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• Donisthorpe, H. 1932b. On the identity of some ants from Ceylon described by F. Walker. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 10(9): 574-576 (page 575, Senior synonym of ingruens)
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• Forel, A. 1895f. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part V. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 9: 453-472 (page 466, Senior synonym of semirufus)
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• Wheeler, W. M. 1919f. The ants of Borneo. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 63: 43-147 (page 99, Senior synonym of gracilis)
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• Xu, Z. 1995a. A taxonomic study of the ant genus Dolichoderus Lund in China (Hymenoptera Formicidae Dolichoderinae). J. Southwest For. Coll. 15: 33-39 (page 35, Senior synonym of obscuripes and tonkina)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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