Dinoponera gigantea

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Neotropical Region: Brazil, Guyana, Peru.

Dinoponera gigantea has been found on the coast of Guyana, in the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Pará including Marajo Island, Mato Grosso and Maranhão as well as the Loreto Province in Perú. Dinoponera gigantea is reported to be common in un-flooded forests in the vicinity of Belém, Pará (Kempf 1971, Overal 1980). It is probable that D. gigantea is found in French Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela and southeastern Colombia because these regions are adjacent to known D. gigantea localities and have similar lowland rainforest habitat. However, no specimens from these nations are known to us, perhaps as a result of a lack of sampling or the range is absent from Colombia and southwestern Venezuela.

A record from Rio de Janeiro (from the ) is puzzling as it is disjunct from the known range of D. gigantea. The most southeastern locality for D. gigantea is over 1,480km to the nearest portion of the state of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, Rio de Janeiro is in a well collected area where no other Dinoponera have been found. The label reads ‘R.d.Janeiro, Brazil, D. Davis’ and the specimen agrees in all morphological characters with D. gigantea. This locality is omitted from the species’ range map because of its questionable nature. If other collections can validate this locality it would mean a significant range extension for D. gigantea. (Lenhart, Dash & Mackay, 2013.)

Nomenclature

 *  gigantea. Ponera gigantea Perty, 1833: 135, pl. 27, fig. 3 (w.) BRAZIL. Kempf, 1971: 372 (m.). Combination in Dinoponera: Roger, 1861a: 38. Senior synonym of grandis: Roger, 1861a: 38; Kempf, 1971: 371.
 * grandis. Ponera grandis Guérin-Méneville, 1838: 206 (w.) BRAZIL. Emery, 1911a: 219 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1986a: 387 (l.). Combination in Dinoponera: Roger, 1861a: 38. Junior synonym of gigantea: Roger, 1861a: 38; Kempf, 1971: 371. See also: Haskins & Zahl, 1971: 1.

Additional References

 * Lenhart, P.A., Dash, S.T. & Mackay, W.P. 2013. A revision of the giant Amazonian ants of the genus Dinoponera (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research 31, 119–164.
 * Santos, I.S., Delabie, J.H.C., Silva, J.G., Costa, M.A., Barros, L.A.C., Pompolo, S.G. & Mariano, C.S.F. 2012. Karyotype differentiation among four Dinoponera (Formicidae: Ponerinae) species. Florida Entomologist 95(3), 737-742