Rogeria germaini

Most specimens have come from Winkler apparatus collecting by expeditions from the MHNG in Geneva. Specimens were extracted from rotting leaf litter and wood in forests.

Identification
Kugler (1994) - germaini species group. WL 0.74-0.90mm. Clypeal apron with median tooth. Metanotal groove very weak or absent. Metapleural lobes reduced, not angular. Petiolar keel not lamellate. Sting shaft apex weak, lacks dorsal flange; lancets spatulate. Macrosculpture effaced on side of head below eye; sometimes nearly smooth. Promesonotal rugae sharp and narrow like those on head; rugae low on sides of pronotum do not continue onto metanotum. Macrosculpture on both nodes and petiolar peduncle vestigial. Scapes without erect hair. Mesosoma with erect-suberect only. Head and gaster with both erect and decumbent pilosity.

Rogeria lirata from more northern parts of South America is the closest relative. Rogeria lacertosa, also from southern Brazil, differs in size, clypeal shape, sculpture on side of head, and pilosity. Rogeria pellecta, collected further south in Brazil, differs in clypeal shape, meta pleural lobes, sting, and pilosity.

Distribution
Southern Brazil and Paraguay

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay.

Castes
Males have not been collected.

Nomenclature

 *  germaini. Rogeria germaini Emery, 1894c: 189 (w.) BRAZIL. Kugler, C. 1994: 42 (q.). See also: Kempf, 1962b: 20. Senior synonym of minensis: Kugler, C. 1994: 42.
 * minensis. Rogeria germaini st. minensis Santschi, 1923g: 1262 (w.) BRAZIL. Raised to species: Kempf, 1963a: 189. Junior synonym of germaini: Kugler, C. 1994: 42.

Kugler (1994) - Kempf (1963) examined the types of germaini and minensis and noted that they were very similar, but chose to retain both names on the basis of a list of differences he saw in those specimens. I have also examined the types as well as 11 specimens collected in Paraguay in 1979 and 1982. These new collections bridge the gap between the types of germaini and minensis. They are all intermediate in size between the smaller germaini type and the larger minensis types, have convex posterior heads like the germaini type, have promesonotal sculpture varying from nearly as extensively rugose as the germaini type, to areolate like the minensis types; and some have petiolar nodes intermediate between the more abruptly arising minensis-like and the more obliquely arising germaini-like nodes.

Worker
Kugler (1994) - TL 2.7-3.5, HL 0.66-0.85, HW 0.59-0.74, SL 0.45-0.59, EL 0.06-0.10 (7-13 facets), PW 0.44-0.51, WL 0.74-0.90, SpL 0.15-0.21, PetL 0.30-0.44, PpetL 0.19-0.23mm, CI 0.86-0.89, OI 0.09-0.14, 51 0.75-0.80, PSI 0.20-0.23. N=9

Additions to Kempf (1962b). Dentition variable; simplest pattern is 6 teeth of decreasing size, however, it seems that any or all of the last 3 teeth may be replaced by a pair of denticles. FLW / HW 0.32-0.36. Posterior outline of head concave to convex. Anterior propodeum marked by a transverse carina. Petiolar node distinct; Figs. 24 and 26 show extremes of shape. Postpetiolar node with a distinct posterior face; shape from above as in Figs. 24 or 32. Sting apparatus differing dramatically from that of inermis in some features: 1) sting shaft and lancets very weak, 2) lancets spatulate as in Fig. 29, 3) sting shaft apex with eroded sides, and no dorsal flange, and 4) furcula with a shorter dorsal arm that broadly merges with the lateral arms, thus appearing broadly V-shaped in anterior view.

Posterior head transversely arching rugose to rugose-areolate. Promesonotal dorsum varies from predominantly areolate (with occasional elongate cells) to predominantly vermiculate-rugose. Pronotal sides rugose; rugae subparallel with ventral edge of pronotum to diagonal. Microsculpture vestigial, leaving irregular, but shiny spaces in macrosculpture; sides of mesosoma especially smooth.

Color brownish-yellow to brown with darker gaster; appendages at times slightly lighter.

Queen
Kugler (1994) - TL 4.1, HL 0.90, HW 0.79, SL 0.73 EL 0.17, PW 0.67, WL 1. 12, SpL 0.15, PetL 0.48, PpetL 0.28mm, CI 0.88, 51 0.92, PSI 0.13. N=l

Differing from the worker in the normal queen characteristics and the following. Notch formed by nuchal groove not so distinct in lateral view. Anteroventral corner of pronotum not as dearly dentate. Parapsidal furrows not distinguishable from furrows in sculpture. Diverging rugae on middorsum of head continue onto posterior head, with few or no lateral spurs. Laterodorsa and sides of head similarly rugose. Anterior face of pronotum transversely areolate, mesonotum with longitudinal rugae diverging from an anterior point, then parallel in posterior half; some branching, but no cross-ridges; less vermiculate than in worker.

Type Material
Kugler (1994) :

Syntype workers, BRAZIL: Mato Grosso (Germain) [1 of 2 syntypes examined].

Rogeria germaini minensis Lectotype and paratype workers, BRAZIL: Minas Gerais, Passa Quatro (Reichensperger) [Both lectotype and paratype examined].

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Fichaux M., B. Bechade, J. Donald, A. Weyna, J. H. C. Delabie, J. Murienne, C. Baraloto, and J. Orivel. 2019. Habitats shape taxonomic and functional composition of Neotropical ant assemblages. Oecologia 189(2): 501-513.
 * Franco W., N. Ladino, J. H. C. Delabie, A. Dejean, J. Orivel, M. Fichaux, S. Groc, M. Leponce, and R. M. Feitosa. 2019. First checklist of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of French Guiana. Zootaxa 4674(5): 509-543.
 * Groc S., J. H. C. Delabie, F. Fernandez, M. Leponce, J. Orivel, R. Silvestre, Heraldo L. Vasconcelos, and A. Dejean. 2013. Leaf-litter ant communities (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in a pristine Guianese rainforest: stable functional structure versus high species turnover. Myrmecological News 19: 43-51.
 * Kempf W. W. 1962. Miscellaneous studies on neotropical ants. II. (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Studia Entomologica 5: 1-38.
 * Kempf W. W. 1963. Additions to the Neotropical ant genus Rogeria Emery, with a key to the hitherto recorded South American species (Hym., Formicidae). Revista Brasileira de Biologia 23: 189-196.
 * Kempf W. W. 1978. A preliminary zoogeographical analysis of a regional ant fauna in Latin America. 114. Studia Entomologica 20: 43-62.
 * Kempf, W.W. 1972. Catalago abreviado das formigas da regiao Neotropical (Hym. Formicidae) Studia Entomologica 15(1-4).
 * Kugler C. 1994. A revision of the ant genus Rogeria with description of the sting apparatus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 3: 17-89.
 * Pires de Prado L., R. M. Feitosa, S. Pinzon Triana, J. A. Munoz Gutierrez, G. X. Rousseau, R. Alves Silva, G. M. Siqueira, C. L. Caldas dos Santos, F. Veras Silva, T. Sanches Ranzani da Silva, A. Casadei-Ferreira, R. Rosa da Silva, and J. Andrade-Silva. 2019. An overview of the ant fauna (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the state of Maranhao, Brazil. Pap. Avulsos Zool. 59: e20195938.
 * Santschi F. 1923. Descriptions de quelques nouvelles fourmis du Brésil. Revista do Museu Paulista 13: 1255-1264.
 * Wild, A. L. "A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)." Zootaxa 1622 (2007): 1-55.