Hypoponera congrua

In the SWBP, this species is quite common in limestone and sandy soils in the Fremantle area, but is also found in wetter areas of the south-west.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 *  congrua. Ponera congrua Wheeler, W.M. 1934d: 142 (w.q.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in Hypoponera: Taylor & Brown, D.R. 1985: 31.

Worker
Length 3-3.5 mm.

Head about one-fifth longer than broad, slightly broader behind than in front, with feebly concave posterior border, rounded posterior corners and feebly and evenly convex sides. Eyes minute, consisting of only four or five facets, situated one-fourth the distance from the clypeal suture to the posterior corners. Mandibles large and broad, with straight external and masticatory borders, the latter long, with five larger, blunt, apical teeth and six or seven rather indistinct, irregular, basal denticles. Clypeus convex but not carinate in the middle, its sides depressed, its anterior border broadly rounded and but slightly advanced in the middle. Frontal carinae small, rounded, closely approximated and ciliate; frontal groove distinct, extending well behind the middle of the head. Antennae rather long; scapes reaching the posterior corners, rather slender at the base, enlarged distally; funiculi without distinct club; their first joint slightly more than twice as long as broad, second as long as broad, the succeeding joints, especially 3-6 distinctly shorter than broad, the terminal joint pointed, not longer than the two preceding sub equal joints together. Thorax with distinct, arcuate and impressed promesonotal suture, the mesoepinotal suture indistinct or obsolete; posterior portion of pronotum, the mesonotum and base of epinotum in profile nearly straight and horizontal, the epinotal declivity elliptical from behind, narrowed above, as long as the base, straight and sloping, marginate on the sides. Pronotum, without the neck, from above nearly twice as broad as long, broadly rounded in front and broader than the mesonotum which is transversely elliptical and twice as broad as long; epinotum narrower, somewhat longer than broad, parallel-sided and laterally compressed dorsally. Petiole in profile twice as high as long, and as high as the epinotum, its ventral appendage small, elongate, trapezoidal; scale in profile distinctly narrowed dorsally with straight anterior, superior and posterior surfaces; from above slightly broader than the epinotum, somewhat more than twice as broad as long, broadly arcuate anteriorly and straight posteriorly; from behind nearly circular. Postpetiole and first gastric segment broader than long, the former perpendicularly truncated in front. Legs rather slender.

Shining; dorsal surface of head more opaque. Mandibles smooth, with fine scattered punctures; clypeus and head evenly and densely, remainder of body and legs more finely and more sparsely punctate; antennal scapes subopaque, densely punctulate.

Pilosity and pubescence pale yellowish; the former rather short, erect and abundant, especially on the gaster and thoracic dorsum, the pubescence dense and somewhat oblique, best developed on the head and gaster where it partially conceals the shining integument, very fine on the appendages.

Yellowish red; legs, antennae and tip of gaster paler, yellow; the head above, the epinotum, postpetiole and gaster in some specimens darker and more brownish.

Queen
(dealated) Length 4-4.2 mm.

Differing from the worker in colour and pilosity, the head, postpetiole, and first and second gastric segments being dark brown or blackish, their posterior borders, the thorax and petiole reddish brown or castaneous, the mandibles, antennae and legs testaceous. Body more opaque than in the worker owing to the longer pubescence; erect hairs, especially on the gaster, epinotum and petiolar scale longer and more abundant. Eyes much larger, rather convex, nearly as long as their distance from the anterior corners of the head. Frontal groove reaching to the anterior ocellus. Both pro- and mesonotum broader than in the worker, epinotum with feebly convex base, half as long as the straight, sloping declivity. Petiolar scale more compressed above than in the worker, from behind more oval, with the sides less convex and more convergent ventrally. Gaster more voluminous.

Type Material
Described from 16 workers and 8 females taken by Dr. Darlington and myself near White Hill, nesting in sandy soil covered by the lower branches of some small Malvaceous shrubs (X.23.'31). Mr. Glauert has also contributed a worker from the island (XII. '31).