Myrmecia tarsata

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Biology
An incomplete colony excavated in 2007 (30km west of Dorrigo NSW) yielded over 500 workers, 160 cocoons and 173 larvae (C. Peeters unpublished data). Two cocoons contained partly-pigmented pupae of brachypterous queens, while other cocoons contained males.

Castes
McAreavey (1948) and Clark (1951, p. 28-31) described dimorphic flightless queens: ergatoid (permanently wingless) and brachypterous (short, non-functional wings).

Brachypterous queens generally retain unfused flight sclerites in the thorax. The short wings are often broken within hours of emergence, and wing scars give the impression of a queen capable of flight.



Nomenclature

 * . Myrmecia tarsata Smith, F. 1858b: 145 (w.) AUSTRALIA (New South Wales).
 * Type-material: holotype worker.
 * Type-locality: Australia: New South Wales, NH Hunter River, “44/105”.
 * Type-depository: BMNH.
 * Roger, 1861a: 33 (q.); Clark, 1951: 30 (brachypterous q. ergatoid q. m.).
 * Status as species: Roger, 1861a: 33; Mayr, 1862: 726 (in key); Roger, 1863b: 22; Mayr, 1863: 430; Mayr, 1865: 85; Lowne, 1865b: 336; Mayr, 1876: 96; Dalla Torre, 1893: 22; Forel, 1907e: 20; Forel, 1910b: 4; Emery, 1911d: 20; Crawley, 1926: 379 (redescription); Clark, 1927: 34; Clark, 1929: 121; Wheeler, W.M. 1933i: 45; Clark, 1951: 28 (redescription); Taylor & Brown, 1985: 16; Taylor, 1987a: 46; Ogata, 1991a: 358; Ogata & Taylor, 1991: 1635 (in key); Bolton, 1995b: 273.
 * Distribution: Australia.

Type Material


Holotype worker in. Labelled “N.H. Hunter R. 44/105” and with a det. label “tarsata Type Smith.” Specimen is very large, with swollen gaster.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Clark J. 1927. The ants of Victoria. Part III. Victorian Naturalist (Melbourne) 44: 33-40.
 * Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.
 * Taylor R. W., and D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. Zoological Catalogue of Australia 2: 1-149.