Rhytidoponera acanthoponeroides

This species nests under stones in open areas in cloud forest dominated by Araucaria and Podocarpus.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: New Caledonia.

Biology
From present records, this species appears to be restricted to rainforest and cloud forest at higher elevations (500-900m). At Montagne des Sources a worker was collected foraging in open heath or maquis about 20 m from the nearest gully with tall woody shrubs; all other records, including other ground foragers from Montagne des Sources, are from closed forest. Collections come from both sedimentary and ultramafic localities. Nest-site records; under stone (1); in clump of soil and rotting wood (1).

Nomenclature

 * . Rhytidoponera (Chalcoponera) acanthoponeroides Viehmeyer, 1924a: 227 (w.) NEW CALEDONIA.
 * Type-material: holotype worker.
 * Type-locality: New Caledonia (no further data; holotype a single specimen sent to Viehmeyer by Emery).
 * Type-depository: unknown (Ward, 1984: 138, reports holotype not in MNHU).
 * [Note: Ward, 1984: 139, says that specimens, probably from the original series, are in MSNG and NHMB, from New Caledonia: Ngoyé, 19.ix.1911.]
 * Brown, 1958g: 290 (m.).
 * Status as species: Brown, 1958g: 202, 289; Ward, 1984: 138 (redescription); Taylor, 1987a: 71; Bolton, 1995b: 378.
 * Distribution: New Caledonia.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1958. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. II. Tribe Ectatommini (Hymenoptera). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 118: 173-362.
 * Jennings J. T., L. Krogmann, and C. Burwell. 2013. Review of the hymenopteran fauna of New Caledonia with a checklist of species. Zootaxa 3736(1): 1-53.
 * Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.
 * Viehmeyer H. 1924. Formiciden der australischen Faunenregion. Entomologische Mitteilungen. Berlin-Dahlem 13: 219-229.
 * Ward P. S. 1984. A revision of the ant genus Rhytidoponera (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in New Caledonia. Aust. J. Zool. 32: 131-175.
 * Ward P. S. 1985. Taxonomic congruence and disparity in an insular ant fauna: Rhytidoponera in New Caledonia. Systematic Zoology 34: 140-151.