Aenictus levior

Identification
A member of the pachycerus group.

Key to Aenictus species groups

Distribution
This taxon was described from Indonesia (Buru Island). It is known from Sumatra, Indonesia, peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, Malaysia (Shattuck, 2008).

Nomenclature

 *  levior. Eciton (Aenictus) impressus var. levior Karavaiev, 1926d: 425 (w.) INDONESIA (Buru I.). Junior synonym of aratus: Wilson, 1964a: 446. Revived from synonymy and raised to species: Shattuck, 2008c: 17.

Worker syntypes from Buru Island, Indonesia.

The following taxonomic notes are provided by Shattuck (2008):

Aenictus material from Indonesia is uncommon in collections and drawing conclusions on the species involved is difficult. However, it would appear that A. levior is a valid species and not a junior synonym of A. aratus as suggested earlier. Morphologically this species has a head shape similar to A. aitkenii (relatively broad) but the scape is shorter. However, this analysis is based on limited material and should be considered tentative until additional specimens become available. Material referable to this species has been examined from Sumatra, Indonesia, peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, Malaysia.

Additional References

 * Jaitrong, W. & Wiwatwitaya, D. 2013. Two new new species of the Aenictus pachycerus species group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Aenictinae) from Southeast Asia. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61, 97-102.
 * Shattuck, S.O. (2008) Review of the ant genus Aenictus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Australia with notes on A. ceylonicus (Mayr). Zootaxa 1926, 1–19.