Syllophopsis australica

Syllophopsis australica
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Myrmicinae
Tribe:	Solenopsidini
Genus:	Syllophopsis
Species:	S. australica
Binomial name
Syllophopsis australica (Forel, 1907) Specimen Labels
Synonyms
Ireneidris myops Donisthorpe, 1943 Monomorium talpa Emery, 1911

Heterick & Kitching (2022) collected this species in a pitfall trap within a lowland dipterocarp forest in Brunei.

At a Glance

• Limited invasive

Identification

Keys including this Species

• Key to Micronesian Ants
• Key to Australian Syllophopsis species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: 13.9° to -22.4722°.

North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

• Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Australasian Region: Australia (type locality), New Zealand.
Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Guinea, Niue, Northern Mariana Islands, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Wallis and Futuna Islands.
Oriental Region: Sri Lanka, Thailand.

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

Worker

Images from AntWeb

Holotype of Ireneidris myops. Worker. Specimen code casent0902225. Photographer Will Ericson, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by NHMUK, London, UK.

Syntype of Monomorium talpa. Worker. Specimen code casent0904578. Photographer Z. Lieberman, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MSNG, Genoa, Italy.

Queen

Images from AntWeb

Queen (alate/dealate). Specimen code casent0178388. Photographer Erin Prado, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by AMNH, New York, NY, USA.

Nomenclature

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

• australica. Monomorium subcoecum subsp. australicum Forel, 1907a: 20 (w.) AUSTRALIA (New South Wales).
  • Type-material: lectotype worker (by designation of Heterick, 2001: 441).
  • Type-locality: Australia: New South Wales, Blue Mts, Mt Victoria, 1900 (L. Biró).
  • Type-depository: HNHM (other original syntype(s) possibly also in MHNG).
  • Combination in Syllophopsis: Ward, et al. 2015: 73.
  • Subspecies of subcoecum: Emery, 1922e: 173.
  • Status as species: Ettershank, 1966: 87; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 70; Taylor, 1987a: 40; Bolton, 1995b: 259; Heterick, 2001: 440 (redescription); Wetterer, 2006: 415; Don, 2007: 190; Clouse, 2007b: 246; Pfeiffer, et al. 2011: 47; Sarnat, et al. 2013: 71; Ramage, 2014: 165; Dias, R.K.S. et al. 2020: 93.
  • Senior synonym of myops: Heterick, 2001: 440.
  • Senior synonym of talpa: Heterick, 2001: 440; Ramage, 2014: 165.
  • Distribution: Australia, French Polynesia, Indonesia (Irian Jaya, Waigeu I.), Micronesia, New Zealand, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Is, Sri Lanka, Thailand.
• myops. Ireneidris myops Donisthorpe, 1943c: 81 (w.) NEW GUINEA (Indonesia: Waigeu I.).
  • Type-material: 12 syntype workers.
  • Type-locality: Indonesia: Irian Jaya (“Dutch New Guinea”), Waigeu I., Camp Nok, 2500 ft, 4.v.1938 (L.E. Cheesman).
  • Type-depository: BMNH.
  • Status as species: Donisthorpe, 1943d: 451; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 162.
  • Junior synonym of talpa: Ettershank, 1966: 92; Wilson & Taylor, 1967: 69; Bolton, 1995b: 264.
  • Junior synonym of australica: Heterick, 2001: 440.
• talpa. Monomorium talpa Emery, 1911c: 252 (w.) NEW GUINEA (Indonesia).
  • Type-material: holotype worker.
  • Type-locality: Indonesia: Irian Jaya (“New Guinea”): Etna Bay, 1904-05 (Lorentz Expd. de la Nouvelle-Guinée).
  • Type-depository: MSNG.
  • Mann, 1919: 329 (q.).
  • Status as species: Mann, 1919: 329; Emery, 1922e: 173; Wheeler, W.M. 1935g: 24; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 165; Ettershank, 1966: 92; Wilson & Taylor, 1967: 69; Taylor, 1976a: 86; Dlussky, 1994: 54; Bolton, 1995b: 267; Wetterer, 2002: 128 (error); Wetterer & Vargo, 2003: 416; Jaitrong & Nabhitabhata, 2005: 28.
  • Junior synonym of australica: Heterick, 2001: 440; Ramage, 2014: 165.

Type Material

• Monomorium subcoecum australicum Forel, 1907: Lectotype, worker, Mt. Victoria, Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia, Hungarian Natural History Museum.

References

• Akbar, S.A., Bharti, H., Kanturski, M., Wachkoo, A.A. 2021. First record of the myrmicine ant genus Syllophopsis Santschi, 1915 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from India with description of a new species. Zootaxa 4985: 403-413 (doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4985.3.7).
• Ettershank, G. 1966. A generic revision of the world Myrmicinae related to Solenopsis and Pheidologeton (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Aust. J. Zool. 14: 73-171 (page 87, Raised to species)
• Forel, A. 1907d. Formicides du Musée National Hongrois. Ann. Hist.-Nat. Mus. Natl. Hung. 5: 1-42 (page 20, worker described)
• Heterick, B. E. 2001. Revision of the Australian ants of the genus Monomorium (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Invertebr. Taxon. 15: 353-459 (page 440, Senior synonym of talpa (and its junior synonym myops).)
• Heterick, B.E., Kitching, R.L. 2022. The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of a one-hectare plot of lowland dipterocarp forest. Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 158(4), 261–272 (doi:10.31184/m00138908.1584.4153).
• Khachonpisitsak, S., Yamane, S., Sriwichai, P., Jaitrong, W. 2020. An updated checklist of the ants of Thailand (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 998, 1–182 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.998.54902).
• Wang, W.Y., Soh, E.J.Y., Yong, G.W.J., Wong, M.K.L., Benoit Guénard, Economo, E.P., Yamane, S. 2022. Remarkable diversity in a little red dot: a comprehensive checklist of known ant species in Singapore (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with notes on ecology and taxonomy. Asian Myrmecology 15: e015006 (doi:10.20362/am.015006).
• Ward, P.S., Brady, S.G., Fisher, B.L., Schultz, T.R. 2015. The evolution of myrmicine ants: phylogeny and biogeography of a hyperdiverse ant clade (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 40: 61–81 (doi:10.1111/syen.12090).
• Wetterer, J.K., Sharaf, M.R. 2021. Worldwide distribution of Syllophopsis subcoeca (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), an Old-World species long known only from the West Indies. Journal of Natural History 55(23–24), 1465–1476 (doi:10.1080/00222933.2021.1948129).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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