Dolichoderus clarki

Dolichoderus clarki is found in wet sclerophyll woodlands of central coastal New South Wales and the ACT. Workers forage on the ground and on low vegetation. Its glandular compounds were examined by Cavill and Hinterberger (1960a, 1960b) while notes on its venom and venom apparatus were provided by Blum and Hermann (1978).

Identification
Pronotum and propodeum with elongate spines; pronotal spines short, directed anteriorly, approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body, in dorsal view a line drawn between their tips intersects the pronotal collar; first gastral tergite with abundant short erect hairs and gaster with golden pubescence (less obvious in older specimens); antennae, tips of propodeal spines and legs dark brown to black, at most only slightly lighter in colour than body and generally the same colour as body.

This species most closely resembles Dolichoderus doriae but can be differentiated by the dark coloured legs, in contrast to the yellow legs found in D. doriae.

Identification Keys including this Taxon

 * Key to Australian Dolichoderus Species

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * tristis. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) tristis Clark, 1930b: 254, fig. 2 (w.) AUSTRALIA. [Junior primary homonym of tristis Mann, above.] Replacement name: clarki Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69.
 *  clarki. Dolichoderus (Acanthoclinea) clarki Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69. Replacement name for tristis Clark, 1930b: 254. [Junior primary homonym of tristis Mann, 1916: 463.] See also: Shattuck, 1994: 45.

Worker
Black. Legs blackish brown.

Shining. Head coarsely punctate. Clypeus more finely and sparsely punctate. Pronotum with large shallow punctures. Pronotum with lIimilar punct1,lres in front, almost effaced behind. The constriction and anterior half of the epinotum almost smooth, posterior half punctate like the pronotum. Top of the node finely and irregularly rugose. Gaster densely and microscopically punctate.

Hair yellow, suberect, short and rather sparse throughout. Pubescence apparent only on the gaster where it forms a fine yellowish covering, rather thin, by no means hiding the sculpture.

Head a little longer than broad, broadest at the eyes, occipital border and sides strongly convex. Frontal carinae erect, separated by fully their length. Clypeus convex in the middle above, the anterior border convex, with a slight excision at the middle. Eyes globular, placed at the middle of the sides. Scapes of the antennae extending beyond the occipital border by one-third of their length; first segment of the funiculus fully one-third longer than the second, the others subequal. Masticatory border of the mandibles with nine denticles, the terminal border with nine large teeth. Thorax twice as long as broad. Pronotum twice as broad as long, furnished in front with two long slender spines directed forward, outward and downward, their length is equal to two-thirds of the distance apart at their base. Mesonotum longer than broad, broader in front than behind. Epinotum slightly longer than broad, furnished with two long, sharp, stout spines, directed outward and backward; in profile the spines are at an angle of thirty degrees, the dorsum fiat, the declivity concave. Node thin on top, fully four times broader than long, concave laterally above, the anterior face feebly concave, the posterior convex; in profile fiat in front, the posterior convex. Gaster much longer than broad. Legs long and slender.

Shattuck and Marsden (2013) -The available material shows slight variation in leg colour, which is most commonly black but in some individuals is slightly lighter (reddish-black). Otherwise all specimens are similar.

Measurements (n=5). CI 95–97; EI 17–19; EL 0.27–0.32; HL 1.65–1.76; HW 1.59–1.69; ML 2.52–2.71; MTL 1.64–1.89; PronI 65.13–77.06; PronW 1.10–1.22; SI 110–115; SL 1.74–1.95.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Shattuck S. O., and S. Marsden. 2013. Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3716(2): 101-143.