Dolichoderus dentatus

Dolichoderus dentatus is found in dry sclerophyll woodlands and savannah of eastern Queensland from the Atherton Tablelands south to Cooloola Recreation Area, Great Sandy National Park. Its glandular compounds were examined by Cavill and Hinterberger (1960a, 1960b) while notes on its venom and venom apparatus were provided by Blum and Hermann (1978).

Identification
Pronotum and propodeum with elongate spines; the long pronotal spines are directed anteriorly and approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body; in dorsal view a line drawn between their tips lies anterior of the pronotal collar.

The long, anteriorly directed pronotal spines will distinguish this species from all other Australian Dolichoderus species.

Identification Keys including this Taxon

 * Key to Australian Dolichoderus Species

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 *  dentatus. Dolichoderus doriae var. dentata Forel, 1902h: 461 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Combination in D. (Hypoclinea): Emery, 1913a: 12; in D. (Acanthoclinea): Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69 (misspelled as edentata). Raised to species: Clark, 1930b: 255. See also: Shattuck, 1994: 48.

Worker
Clark (1930) - Head and gaster black, thorax brown, the epinotum and spines red, mandibles, clypeus, antennae and legs yellowish red.

Shining. Head irregularly punctate-rugose. Clypeus finely striate-rugose longitudinally. Mandibles longitudinally striate and sparsely punctate. Pronotum and mesonotum coarsely punctate, the punctures large and shallow. The epinotum more shining, the punctures much wider apart. Top of the node irregularly rugose. Gaster microscopically reticulate-punctate.

Hair yellow, short and erect, very sparse, except on the gaster, very short on the antennae and legs. Pubescence apparent only on the gaster, where it forms a thin covering, by no means hiding the sculpture. Head as long as broad, broadest at the eyes, the occipital border straight, the sides strongly convex, the angles rounded. Frontal carinae short, their distance apart equal to their length. Clypeus convex above, the anterior border convex, deeply excised at the middle. Eyes globular, placed at the middle of the sides. Scapes extending beyond the occipital border by fully one-third of their length; first segment of the funiculus one-fifth longer than the second, the others subequal. Mandibles finely denticulate on the masticatory border, the denticles increasing in size from the base to the apex; the terminal border furnished with ten sharp teeth. Thorax two and three-quarter times longer than broad. Pronotum twice as broad as long, furnished in front with two long, very slender spines directed forward and outward, as long as their distance apart at the base; in profile directed forward and downward, curved towards the apex. Mesonotum circular; in profile feebly convex longitudinally, not so high as the pronotum, there is a strong sharp tooth on the side below. Epinotum longer than broad, furnished with two long, sharp, slender spines directed upward, backward and outward; in profile they are at an angle of about forty degrees, the dorsum straight, the declivity concave. Node barely three times broader than long, the anterior and posterior borders straight, the dorsum feebly concave. Gaster longer than broad, the anterior face concave below. Legs long and slender.

Shattuck and Marsden (2013) - Workers show slight variation in body colour, some being more reddish and less red-black, and with the legs sometimes slightly lighter yellow-red.

Measurements (n=5). CI 95–104; EI 16–19; EL 0.26–0.32; HL 1.59–1.71; HW 1.60–1.70; ML 2.49–2.63; MTL 1.66–1.76; PronI 67.27–67.27; PronW 1.08–1.21; SI 104–114; SL 1.77–1.82.