Tetraponera atra

Tetraponera atra
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Pseudomyrmecinae
Genus:	Tetraponera
Species:	T. atra
Binomial name
	Tetraponera atra; Donisthorpe, 1949

Apart from the type locality in Irian Jaya, there are records of T. atra from several sites in Papua New Guinea. Collections with habitat data are from “rainforest”, “lowland rainforest” and “dry evergreen forest”. (Ward 2001)

Identification

Ward (2001) - This species is closely related to Tetraponera laeviceps and Tetraponera mimula, but it can be distinguished by the much denser punctate sculpture on the head and mesosoma dorsum, which renders these parts of the body more or less opaque. T. atra is also larger on average, with disproportionately longer legs and scapes (see keys). Even among the small series of specimens examined there is considerable variation in the shapes of the pronotum, propodeum and petiole. The petiolar node is notably lower and thinner in two specimens from eastern Papua New Guinea. Sculpture also varies somewhat, especially on the side of the pronotum, which can range from smooth and shiny to punctulate and subopaque.

Although the holotype queen of T. atra is apparently lost, there are enough details in the original description to associate the name with the opaque, densely sculptured species recognised here. In particular, Donisthorpe's (1949) description of the color, sculpture, pilosity, head shape, mandibular dentition, petiole shape (long with a thin peduncle) and size (8.5 mm long) of the type specimen allows one to eliminate all other New Guinea species for which the queen is known (Tetraponera allaborans, Tetraponera laeviceps, Tetraponera modesta, Tetraponera nitida, Tetraponera punctulata and Tetraponera rotula). The original description approaches that of the T. laeviceps queen except that T. atra is described as being 'rather dull, clothed with fine pubescence' and having 'mesonotum more distinctly punctured than pronotum, which is very finely punctured'. These are characteristic features of the species that is here assigned the name T. atra. Moreover, although there is one other New Guinea species (T. mimula), for which the queen is unknown, the worker of this species has a shiny integument and relatively short petiole, so its queen almost certainly does not correspond to that of T. atra.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

Latitudinal Distribution Pattern

Latitudinal Range: -4.15° to -6.666666667°.


North Temperate	North Subtropical	Tropical	South Subtropical	South Temperate

Source: AntMaps

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Indo-Australian Region: New Guinea (type locality).
Oriental Region: Nepal.

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

Castes

Nomenclature

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

atra. Tetraponera atra Donisthorpe, 1949b: 493 (q.) NEW GUINEA. Ward, 2001: 620 (w.).

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

Description

Worker

Ward (2001) - HW 0.94-1.04, HL 1.04-1.18, LHT 0.84-1.00, CI 0.86-0.90, FCI 0.12-0.14, REL 0.38-0.42, REL2 0.44--0.47, SI 0.61-0.62, SI3 1.29-1.39, FI 0.41-0.44, PLI 0.38-0.51, PWI 0.33-0.45, PDI 1.24-1.31, LHT/HW 0.90-0.96, CSC 0-2, MSC 0-2.

Medium-large species, with broad head; clypeus short, its anteromedial portion protruding only slightly beyond level of the anterolateral clypeal margin; frontal carinae moderately well separated, the distance between them subequal to maximum scape width; eye relatively large (see REL and REL2 values); scape rather long (SI2 0.53-0.55; SI3 > 1.26); pro femur slender; pronotum slightly to moderately expanded laterally (PrWM/MTW 1.15-1.30), its anteromedial portion flat or weakly concave; lateral pronotal margins blunt-edged; mesopropodeal impression well marked but short, consisting of a pit-shaped depression, flanked by lateral ridges; propodeum conspicuously elevated, markedly higher than wide, dorsal face moderately to strongly convex in profile, and rounding insensibly into declivitous face; legs rather long, LHT/HL 0.79-0.86; petiole long and slender, with well differentiated anterior peduncle; petiolar node somewhat variable in height and width (see range of PLI and PWI values); postpetiole as long as, or longer than, wide; metabasitarsal sulcus well developed, lying in a darkened patch of cuticle and adjacent to a low carina that occupies 0.5-0.7x the length of the basitarsus. Dorsum of head, mesosoma and petiole covered with dense, subcontiguous punctures which render much of the surface opaque; cephalic punctures mostly 0.015-0.020 mm in diameter; mesosomal and petiolar punctures smaller, and tending to become effaced on the sides (especially pronotum) where the integument is correspondingly shinier; postpetiole and gaster finely puncticulate, sublucid; lower malar area rugulopunctate. Standing pilosity very scarce, present on gaster and apex of head, and on the following dorsal surfaces: posterior half of head (0-2), pronotum (0-2), petiole (0-3), and postpetiole (0-3); short appressed pubescence forming a rather dense cover on most of body including abdominal tergite IV Black to dark brownish-black, appendages lighter (medium brown to yellowish-brown), especially scape, first several funicular segments, protibia and tarsi.

Type Material

Ward (2001) - Holotype queen (by monotypy), Maffin Bay, Indonesia (E. S. Ross) [type not in California Academy of Sciences, apparently lost].

References

Ward, P. S. 2001. Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Oriental and Australian regions. Invertebrate Taxonomy. 15:589-665. (page 620, worker described)
Bodlah, I., Rasheed, M.T., Fareen, A.G., Ajmal, M.S., Bodlah, M.A. 2016. First record of two new species of genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Pseudomyrmecinae: Formicidae) from Pakistan. Journal of Entomology and Zoology Studies 4(4): 1028-1030.
Donisthorpe, H. 1949b [1948]. A fifth instalment of the Ross Collection of ants from New Guinea. Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. 12(1): 487-506 (page 493, queen described)
Subedi, I.P., Budha, P.B., Bharti, H., Alonso, L. 2020. An updated checklist of Nepalese ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 1006, 99–136 (doi:10.3897/zookeys.1006.58808).
Subedi, I.P., Budha, P.B., Thapa, V.K. 2022. Ant genus Tetraponera Smith, 1852 in Nepal, with two new records and keys to workers (Formicidae: Pseudomyrmecinae). Journal of Institute of Science and Technology, 27(1): 93-99 (doi:10.3126/jist.v27i1.46661).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

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. 1949. A fifth instalment of the Ross Collection of ants from New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (12)1: 487-506.
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
Ward P. S. 2001. Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Oriental and Australian regions. Invertebrate Taxonomy 15: 589-665.
Ward, P. S. 2001. Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of the ant genus Tetraponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the Oriental and Australian regions. Invertebrate Taxonomy 15:589-665.