Polyrhachis xiphias

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Indonesia, New Guinea.

Castes
Males have yet to be collected.

Nomenclature

 *  xiphias. Polyrhachis xiphias Smith, F. 1863: 16 (q.) NEW GUINEA. Kohout, 2013a: 25, figs. 3, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15 (w.q.). Combination in P. (Hagiomyrma): Emery, 1925b: 185; in P. (Campomyrma): Kohout, 2013b: 492.

Type Material


Holotype queen in. Labelled “Wag” (= Waigeo I., New Guinea) and with a Donisthorpe type-label.

Description
Kohout (2013b): Polyrhachis xiphias was described from a single queen and subsequently placed by Emery (1925: 185) in the subgenus Hagiomyrma. Only following the recent identification of worker specimens was P. xiphias recognised as a member of the subgenus Campomyrma Wheeler. It became the name-bearing species of the Polyrhachis xiphias-group (Kohout 2007: 7), a small group of species within Campomyrma, which also includes Polyrhachis hashimotoi Kohout from Borneo and Polyrhachis shixingensis Wu & Wang from China. The members of this group differ from other Campomyrma species by having the petiolar node columnar and the dorsum armed with two, more-or-less horizontal, posteriorly directed spines, in contrast to the scale-like petiole of all other known Campomyrma species.

Additional References

 * [[Media:Kohout 2013.pdf| Kohout, R. J. 2013a. A review of the Polyrhachis xiphias species-group of the subgenus Campomyrma Wheeler (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae). Asian Myrmecology 5:21-27. PDF]]
 * Kohout, R.J. 2013b. Revision of Polyrhachis (Hagiomyrma) Wheeler, 1911 (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Formicinae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, Nature 56, 487-577.