Buniapone amblyops

Very little is known about the habits of Buniapone, other than that they are hypogeic. They are presumably predatory, though their prey preferences are unknown. One of us (CS) observed large numbers of Buniapone amblyops workers congregated at a palm oil bait sunk into the ground, suggesting that they are not strictly carnivorous and that they may employ some kind of nestmate recruitment to food sources, like their sister genus Paltothyreus (Schmidt and Shattuck 2014). Subedi (2021) collected specimens from animal dung on the ground alongside Dolichoderus, Brachyponera, Carebara and Pheidole species, which were most likely foraging in the dung. They were collected from soil under a stone in Singapore (Yong et al. 2017). Brassard et al. (2020) found this species in the soil at the depth of 50 cm, along with Pheidole, Carebara, and Solenopsis within the same quadrat. Bharti et al. (2017) recorded them in the secondary forest, whereas Eguchi et al. (2014) collected them in well-developed forests by digging the ground.

Identification
Buniapone is a morphologically distinctive genus and its workers are readily identified by the following combination of characters: long and narrow toothed mandibles, blunt medial clypeal projection, greatly reduced eyes, obsolete metanotal groove, ovoid propodeal spiracles, complex metapleural gland orifice, and squamiform petiole. Superficially, Buniapone most closely resembles Centromyrmex, Promyopias, and certain Neotropical Cryptopone species, but Buniapone has eyes, lacks the anterolateral position of the metapleural gland orifice of Centromyrmex, lacks the linear mandibles of Promyopias, and lacks the small closely approximated frontal lobes and circular propodeal spiracles of Cryptopone. Though Buniapone shares several apomorphies with its sister genus Paltothyreus, they are superficially very different and unlikely to be confused. Myopias also has a blunt medial clypeal projection, but it is much more pronounced than in Buniapone, and Myopias lacks the other characters diagnostic of Buniapone. (Schmidt and Shattuck 2014)

Distribution
Buniapone is restricted to Southern and Southeast Asia, ranging from southern China to the islands of southern Indonesia and as far west as India.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore. Oriental Region: Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Vietnam. Palaearctic Region: China.

Nomenclature

 * . Ponera amblyops Emery, 1887b: 434 (w.) INDONESIA (Sumatra).
 * Emery, 1889b: 497 (q.); Santschi, 1928h: 122 (m.).
 * Combination in Trapeziopelta: Emery, 1889b: 497;
 * combination in Belonopelta: Emery, 1897d: 553;
 * combination in Pachycondyla (Pseudoponera): Emery, 1900d: 668;
 * combination in Pseudoponera: Bingham, 1903: 92; Emery, 1911d: 87; Santschi, 1928h: 122;
 * combination in Euponera (Pseudoponera): Forel, 1905c: 6;
 * combination in Pachycondyla: Brown, in Bolton, 1995b: 302;
 * combination in Buniapone: Schmidt, C.A. & Shattuck, 2014: 83.
 * Status as species: Emery, 1889b: 497; Dalla Torre, 1893: 43; Emery, 1895k: 461; Forel, 1899d: 320; Emery, 1900d: 668; Bingham, 1903: 92; Forel, 1905c: 6; Emery, 1911d: 87; Forel, 1913k: 8; Viehmeyer, 1916a: 115; Wheeler, W.M. 1919e: 143; Karavaiev, 1925b: 127; Santschi, 1928h: 122; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 74; Radchenko, 1993a: 80; Bolton, 1995b: 302; Xu, 1995b: 104 (in key); Mathew & Tiwari, 2000: 283; Jaitrong & Nabhitabhata, 2005: 30; Zhou & Ran, 2010: 107; Pfeiffer, et al. 2011: 57; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 60; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 49.
 * Current subspecies: nominal plus oculatior.

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. 1938. New species and varieties of ants from New Guinea. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (11)1: 593-599.
 * Eguchi K., B. T. Viet, and S. Yamane. 2014. Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part IICerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae. Zootaxa 3860: 001-046.
 * Emery C. 1887. Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine). [concl.]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 25(5): 427-473.
 * Emery C. 1911. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Ponerinae. Genera Insectorum 118: 1-125.
 * Emery C. Formiche raccolte da Elio Modigliani in Sumatra, Engano e Mentawei. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale 40: 661-722.
 * Emery, C. "Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine)." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 5, no. 25 (1887): 427-473.
 * Emery, C. "Formiche raccolte da Elio Modigliani in Sumatra, Engano e Mentawei." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 20, no. 40 (1900): 661-722.
 * Fellowes J. R., M. W. N. Lau, D. Dudgeon, G. T. Reels, G. W. J. Ades, G. J. Carey, B. P. L. Chan, R. C. Kendrick, L. K. Shing, M. R. Leven, K. D. P. Wilson, and Y. Y. Tung. 2002. Wild animals to watch: terrestrial and freshwater fauna of concervation concern in Hong Kong. Memoirs of the Hong Kong Natural History Society 25: 123-160.
 * Forel A. 1900. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part VII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 13: 303-332.
 * Forel A. 1905. Ameisen aus Java. Gesammelt von Prof. Karl Kraepelin 1904. Mitt. Naturhist. Mus. Hambg. 22: 1-26.
 * Forel A. 1913. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer Forschungsreise nach Ostindien ausgeführt im Auftrage der Kgl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin von H. v. Buttel-Reepen. II. Ameisen aus Sumatra, Java, Malacca und Ceylon. Gesammelt von Herrn Prof. Dr. v. Buttel-Reepen in den Jahren 1911-1912. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere 36:1-148.
 * Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
 * Hua Li-zhong. 2006. List of Chinese insects Vol. IV. Pages 262-273. Sun Yat-sen university Press, Guangzhou. 539 pages.
 * Ito, F.; Yamane, S.; Eguchi, K.; Noerdjito, W. A.; Kahono, S.; Tsuji, K.; Ohkawara, K.; Yamauchi, K.; Nishida, T.; Nakamura, K. 2001. Ant species diversity in the Bogor Botanic Garden, West Java, Indonesia, with descriptions of two new species of the genus Leptanilla (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Tropics 10:379-404.
 * Jaitrong W., and T. Ting-Nga. 2005. Ant fauna of Peninsular Botanical Garden (Khao Chong), Trang Province, Southern Thailand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). The Thailand Natural History Museum Journal 1(2): 137-147.
 * Jaitrong W.; Nabhitabhata, J. 2005. A list of known ant species of Thailand. The Thailand Natural History Museum Journal 1(1): 9-54.
 * Karavaiev V. 1925. Ponerinen (Fam. Formicidae) aus dem Indo-Australischen Gebiet. (Fortsetzung). Konowia 4: 115-131.
 * Karavaiev V. 1926. Ameisen aus dem Indo-Australischen Gebiet. Treubia 8: 413-445.
 * Li Z.h. 2006. List of Chinese Insects. Volume 4. Sun Yat-sen University Press
 * Mathew R., and R. N. Tiwari. 2000. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Pp. 251-409 in: Director; Zoological Survey of India (ed.) 2000. Fauna of of Meghalaya. Part 7. [State Fauna Series 4.] Insecta 2000. Calcutta: Zoological Survey of India, 621 pp.
 * Ogata K. 2005. Asian ant inventory and international networks. Report on Insect inventory Project in Tropic Asia TAIIV: 145-170.
 * Pfeiffer M.; Mezger, D.; Hosoishi, S.; Bakhtiar, E. Y.; Kohout, R. J. 2011. The Formicidae of Borneo (Insecta: Hymenoptera): a preliminary species list. Asian Myrmecology 4:9-58
 * Radchenko A. G. 1993. Ants from Vietnam in the collection of the Institute of Zoology, PAS, Warsaw. I. Pseudomyrmicinae, Dorylinae, Ponerinae. Annales Zoologici (Warsaw) 44: 75-82.
 * Santschi F. 1928. Fourmis de Sumatra, récoltées par Mr. J. B. Corporaal. Tijdschrift voor Entomologie 71: 119-140.
 * Song Y., Z. Xu, C. Li, N. Zhang, L. Zhang, H. Jiang, and F. Mo. 2013. An Analysis on the Ant Fauna of the Nangun river Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China. Forest Research 26(6): 773-780.
 * Tiwari R. N., B. G. Kundu, S. Roy Chowdhury, and S. N. Ghosh. 2003. Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Fauna of Sikkim. Part 4. State Fauna Series. 9.Zool.Surv.India. i-iii, 1-512. Chapter pagination: 467-506.
 * Xu Z. H., B. L. Yang, and G. Hu. 1999. Formicidae ant communities in fragments of montane rain forest in Xishuangbanna, China. Zoological Research 20(4): 288-293.
 * Yamane S.; Bui T. V.; Ogata K.; Okido H.; Eguchi K. 2002. Ant fauna of Cuc Phuong National Park, North Vietnam (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Bulletin of the Institute of Tropical Agriculture Kyushu University 25: 51-62.