Onychomyrmex doddi

I found only one colony of this ant (November 1), consisting of a female and nearly 50 workers, but without larvae, in a small log in a damp, shady spot in the dense “scrub.”

Identification
Wheeler (1916) - The worker is readily distinguished from both Onychomyrmex hedleyi and Onychomyrmex mjobergi by its smaller size and less abruptly curved mandibles; from mjobergi by its color, longer head, striated mandibles and finer pilosity; from hedleyi by the straight dorsal outline of the thorax and less convex pronotum, shorter petiole, scapes, and funicular joints.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Onychomyrmex doddi Wheeler, W.M. 1916a: 53, pl. 2, figs. 3-5 (w.q.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
 * Type-material: ca 50 syntype workers, 1 syntype ergatoid queen.
 * Type-locality: Australia: Queensland, Kuranda, 1.xi.1914 (W.M. Wheeler).
 * Type-depository: MCZC.
 * Status as species: Brown, 1960a: 181, 223; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 37; Taylor, 1987a: 50; Bolton, 1995b: 300.
 * Distribution: Australia.

Type Material
Syntype workers and queen(s) from Kuranda, Queensland (3 workers in, 3 workers in , location of queen(s) uncertain).



Worker
Length: 2-2.5 mm.

Head subrectangular, about 1/5 longer than broad, scarcely broader in front than behind, with nearly straight lateral and posterior borders and rounded posterior corners. Clypeus with broadly arcuate, finely denticulate anterior border, sinuate on the sides. Eyes very similar to those of the preceding species, situated about 3/5 the distance from the anterior to the posterior border of the head. Mandibles with the long terminal tooth less abruptly bent inward, remaining teeth rather small. Antennal scapes 3/4 as long as the head; first and terminal funicular joints fully twice as long as broad, remaining joints scarcely longer than broad. Thorax rather stout, shaped much as in mjobergi, with straight, horizontal dorsal outline, the pronotum longer than broad, rising rather abruptly from the neck, but posteriorly flattened above, its sides only feebly convex. Mesonotum somewhat more than twice as broad as long. Thoracic sutures very distinct. Epinotum in profile with the base feebly and evenly convex and longer than the declivity which is sloping and distinctly concave. Petiole in profile with a short basal peduncle and prominent, compressed, somewhat translucent ventral projection; the node with subequal anterior and dorsal surfaces, both feebly convex; seen from above as long as broad, subrectangular, with rounded sides and straight, subequal anterior and posterior borders. Postpetiole as long as broad, very convex below and separated by a pronounced constriction from the gaster. Legs as in mjobergi.

Smooth and shining, covered with small piligerous punctures, which are most abundant on the head and especially on the cheeks. Mandibles, clypeus, and cheeks opaque, the mandibles finely and sharply striate and sparsely punctate, the clypeus densely transversely rugulose.

Pilosity pale yellow, much as in Onychomyrmex hedleyi but shorter.

Color also like that of hedleyi, deep castaneous, nearly black; mandibles, except the teeth, clypeus, and frontal carinae deep brownish red; antennae, legs, and tip of gaster yellowish brown; coxae and middle portions of femora and tibiae darker.

Queen
Length nearly 4 mm.

Resembling the female of Onychomyrmex mjobergi in form, but the head is proportionally broader behind and without lateral impressions; differing from the worker in the shape of the head, which is broadened in front, the feebly dentate, less curved mandibles and the stouter thorax and larger petiole, postpetiole, and gaster. The sides and dorsal surface of the pro- and epinotum are more convex than in the worker and the promesonotal and mesoepinotal sutures are more impressed so that the dorsal outline is much less straight and continuous. Mesonotum not more than twice as broad as long. Petiole like that of the female mjobergi, the peduncle very small, the node very large, convex and rounded in front and on the sides, with straight posterior border; seen from above it is only a little more than 1 1/2 times as broad as long, scarcely broader than the epinotum and more than half as broad as the postpetiole. The latter is separated by a very slight constriction from the gaster, which is large and shaped much as in the female mjobergi.

Sculpture and color as in the worker, hairs considerably longer and coarser, especially on the postpetiole and gaster.