Carebara hornata

This species seems uncommon; nothing is known about its biology.

Identification
Bharti & Kumar (2013) - Few major workers of this species have single large ocellus at vertex of head and occipital carina effaced in middle. Carebara hornata sp. nov. is allied to C. bihornata (Xu, 2003) and C. asina (Forel, 1902), but can be differentiated from C. bihornata by the following characters: head nearly rectangular with straight parallel sides and finely longitudinally rugulose anteriorly and eyes with single ommatidium. In C. bihornata the head is roughly rectangular, smooth, shiny and with convex sides eyes with four ommatidia. From C. asina this new species can be separated due to the following combination of characters: in case of major worker, posterior margin of head and vertex smooth and shiny, head rectangular with straight parallel sides and finely longitudinally rugulose anteriorly and in case of worker (minor) eyes elongated, but in major worker of C. asina occiput and vertex wrinkled, head with convex sides and anteriorly obscurely longitudinally striate, while its workers are without eyes.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India.

Nomenclature

 * . Carebara hornata Bharti & Kumar, 2013b: 52, figs. 10-15 (s.w.) INDIA (Himachal Pradesh).
 * Status as species: Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 34; Akbar & Bharti, 2017: 37 (in key).

Worker
Major. Measurements: Holotype Ψ. HL 0.91, HW 0.56, SL 0.32, HHL 0.07, ML 0.21, MSL 0.78, PW 0.41, PTL 0.30, PPTL 0.20, PTW 0.20, PPTW 0.21, PTH 0.21, PPTH 0.16, GL 0.82, TL 3.22, CI 61.54, SI 57.14.

Paratypes Ψ. HL 0.82-1.00, HW 0.45-0.63, SL 0.30-0.37, HHL 0.06-0.13, ML 0.17-0.23, MSL 0.66-0.88, PW 0.37-0.48, PTL 0.19-0.28, PPTL 0.16-0.21, PTW 0.16-0.20, PPTW 0.17-0.24, PTH 0.13-0.23, PPTH 0.13-0.19, GL 0.69-0.91, TL 2.69-3.51, CI 54.88-63.00, SI 57.69-66.67 (10 measured).

Head large, about twice longer than broad, nearly rectangular in full-face view, sides straight and parallel; posterior margin of head deeply and evenly concave, corners protruding into a pair of well developed acute horns and with a transverse carina between horns; horns directed upward and forward; clypeus longitudinally weakly depressed with anterior margin slightly concave; mandibles triangular, masticatory margin with five teeth; frontal lobes developed and cover the condylar bulb; eyes with single ommatidium, situated below mid-length of head at a distance of 0.24mm from mandibular insertions into head; antennae slender, nine segmented; scape short, not reach to half of the distance from antennal insertion to posterior margin of head and 0.35x of head length; promesonotum strongly convex; promesonotum suture present; metanotal groove broad and deep; propodeum flat slightly depressed medially, sloping backwards with posterodorsal corners bluntly angled; declivitous face of propodeum vertical, depressed medially, with raised lateral margins; petiole with a long peduncle, ventral face straight, node broader than long and compressed antero-posteriorly in dorsal view; postpetiole convex, as broad as long; gaster narrow anteriorly and broader posteriorly in dorsal view.

Head finely longitudinally rugulose anteriorly up to half of scape length, rest of the head smooth and shiny, punctures at the base of hairs; frontal lobes finely longitudinally rugulose; clypeus with divergent lateral carinae; clypeus and mandibles smooth and shinning; mesosoma smooth and shiny except meso-metapleuron which are finely punctured with fine longitudinal rugulae and scattered smooth patches; petiole, postpetiole and propodeal declivity punctured; gaster and legs smooth and shinning.

Whole body yellowish brown with masticatory margins of mandibles black; body covered with abundant, short and long subdecumbent pilosity, while scape, middle and hind tibiae with short subdecumbent hairs.

Minor. Measurements. Paratype, HL 0.39, HW 0.32, SL 0.23, ML 0.10, ED 0.01, MSL 0.44, PW 0.20, PTL 0.14, PPTL 0.10, PTW 0.09, PPTW 0.10, PTH 0.10, PPTH 0.07, GL 0.38, TL 1.55, CI 82.05, EI 3.12, SI 71.88 (1 measured).

Head longer than broad, sides convex; posterior margin of head almost straight, posterior margin of head without horns; masticatory margin of mandibles with five acute teeth; eyes with a single elongate ommatidium, situated below mid-length of head at a distance of 0.11mm from mandibular insertions into head; scape falls short from posterior margin of head by almost half of its length and 0.59x times of head length; promesonotum weakly convex and suture absent; metanotal groove narrow and shallow; petiolar node subovale.

Whole head smooth and shinning with punctures at the base of hairs except genae which have faint fine longitudinal rugulae and; frontal lobes with fine punctures; meso-metapleuron faintly sculptured; propodeal declivity, petiolar and postpetiolar node smooth and shiny.

Whole body light yellowish brown. Rest like major worker.

Type Material
Holotype major worker, India: Himachal Pradesh, Andretta, 32.036638°N 76.566532°E, 940m, 11.vi.2010, soil core; R. Kumar Leg.;. Paratypes. 22 major workers, with same data as of holotype;; 1 worker, with same data as of holotype.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bharti H., and R. Kumar. 2013. Six new species of Carebara Westwood (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) with restructuring of world species groups and a key to Indian species. J. Entomol. Res. Soc. 15(1): 47-67.