Tetraponera variegata

Tetraponera variegata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hymenoptera
Family:	Formicidae
Subfamily:	Pseudomyrmecinae
Genus:	Tetraponera
Species group:	grandidieri
Species:	T. variegata
Binomial name
	Tetraponera variegata; (Forel, 1895) Specimen labels

Its range broadly overlaps the distributions of Tetraponera grandidieri, Tetraponera inermis and Tetraponera merita. Specimens have been collected in Malaise traps and foraging on vegetation. Up to this point no nests have been found. (Ward 2009)

Identification

Ward (2009) - A member of the Tetraponera grandidieri group. T. variegata can be distinguished from related species by the bicolored body and black banded legs. Tetraponera grandidieri lacks black banding on the legs and, although the body is often bicolored, only the head is dark, not the head and gaster (as in T. variegata). Although such color differences might appear to be a weak basis for treating T. variegata as a species distinct from T. grandidieri, the two forms have been collected sympatrically at several sites (PN Marojejy, PN Ranomafana, Foret Ivohibe) without showing any signs of intergradation. One other species, Tetraponera hespera, from northwestern Madagascar, exhibits black leg banding in most populations but in that species the body is unicolored light yellow or orange-brown.

Keys including this Species

Distribution

T. variegata is known from several widely scattered locations in the rainforest zone of eastern Madagascar.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists

Malagasy Region: Madagascar (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

Castes

Worker

Images from AntWeb


Lectotype of Sima grandidieri variegata. Worker. Specimen code casent0101046. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.


Paralectotype of Sima grandidieri variegata. Worker. Specimen code casent0101045. Photographer April Nobile, uploaded by California Academy of Sciences.	Owned by MHNG, Geneva, Switzerland.

Nomenclature

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

variegata. Sima grandidieri var. variegata Forel, 1895h: 487 (w.) MADAGASCAR. Santschi, 1926a: 27 (q.). Combination in Tetraponera: Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 1014. Raised to species: Ward, 2009: 300.

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

Description

Worker

Ward (2009) - (n = 6). HW 1.15-1.36, HL 1.36-1.62, LHT 1.39-1.59, CI 0.80-0.85, FCI 0.13-0.17, REL 0.29-0.32, REL2 0.35-0.38, SI 0.76-0.81, FI 0.30-0.32, PLI 0.49-0.55, PWI 0.41-0.46.

Similar to Tetraponera grandidieri (q.v.), but larger on average. Basal margin of mandible lacking tooth; anterior clypeal margin broadly convex and crenulate, directed forward; metanotal spiracle visible in lateral view of mesosoma; dorsal face of propodeum broadly convex in posterior view; standing pilosity and appressed pubescence generally sparse; integument mostly sublucid, with fine coriarious/puncticulate sculpture; mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole orange-brown, head and gaster a contrasting blackish brown, legs with a black band on the distal portions of the femora.

Type Material

Ward (2009) - Syntypes, 2 workers, "Centr Madag." (Sikora) (Musee d'Histoire Naturelle Genève) [examined] [Imaged on AntWeb: CASENT0101045, CASENT0101046]. Syn. n. One syntype (CASENT0101046) here designated lectotype.

I have designated a lectotype for T. variegata since there is a dealate queen in Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel (Basel) from Moramanga (leg. Descarpentries) labeled, incorrectly, as a variegata “type.” This specimen has no status as a type, but it reflects the practice of earlier myrmecologists of designating “type specimens” for queens and males when they were described later than the worker caste of the same species.

References

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

Fisher B. L. 1997. Biogeography and ecology of the ant fauna of Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Natural History 31: 269-302.
Fisher B. L. 2003. Formicidae, ants. Pp. 811-819 in: Goodman, S. M.; Benstead, J. P. (eds.) 2003. The natural history of Madagascar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, xxi + 1709 pp.
Forel A. 1895. Quelques fourmis du centre de Madagascar. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 39: 485-488.
Ward P. S. 2009. The Ant Genus Tetraponera in the Afrotropical region: the T. grandidieri group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research: Festschrift Honoring Roy Snelling, 18: 385-304
Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. IX. A synonymic list of the ants of the Malagasy region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 1005-1055