Strumigenys akalles

The type material was collected from a soil pocket on rock.

Identification
Bolton (2000) - A member of the Strumigenys akalles-group. The three species in this small and compact group are easily separated by characters of sculpture and pilosity, as noted in the key. In brief, Strumigenys eidechthes is densely clothed in very long soft flagellate hairs and has the clypeus smooth. Strumigenys inhonesta also has soft pilosity but it is much shorter and less dense, and the clypeus is sculptured. S. akalles stands in contrast to both of these as its pilosity is stiff, with most hairs on the head and alitrunk minutely bifid or splayed out apically.

There is a morphoclinal reduction in mandible length through the group. As the mandibles shorten they become stouter and the preapical tooth larger. In terms of reducing MI the morphocline runs: inhonesta (MI 25-28), aka lies (MI 23), eidechthes (MI 18-20).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia.

Nomenclature

 *  akalles. Strumigenys akalles Bolton, 2000: 748 (w.) BORNEO.

Worker
Holotype. TL 2.3, HL 0.62, HW 0.52, CI 84, ML 0.14, MI 23, SL 0.32, SI 62, PW 0.28, AL 0.60. In full-face view with mandibles fully closed the length of the left preapical tooth is distinctly less than the distance between the base of the tooth and the base of the mandible. Leading edge of scape with stiff projecting hairs that are longer than the maximum width of the scape. Dorsolateral margin of head with the numerous freely laterally projecting hairs minutely bifid or weakly splayed apically; these hairs stiff and shallowly curved rather than fine and flexuous, the longest of them much shorter than the length of the scape. Erect hairs on cephalic dorsum and promesonotum bifid or splayed apically. Clypeus weakly sculptured, not as strongly so as cephalic dorsum but by no means glassy smooth. Pronotal dorsum mostly smooth, with widely scattered punctures; mesonotum more densely punctate than pronotum.

Type Material
Holotype worker, Malaysia: Sarawak, 4th Div., G. Mulu Nat. Pk, RGS Expd., Long Pala, 30.ix.1977, soil pocket on rock (B. Bolton).

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * 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