Dolichoderus clarki

Dolichoderus clarki is found in wet sclerophyll woodlands of central coastal New South Wales and the ACT. Workers forage on the ground and on low vegetation. 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; pronotal spines short, directed anteriorly, approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body, in dorsal view a line drawn between their tips intersects the pronotal collar; first gastral tergite with abundant short erect hairs and gaster with golden pubescence (less obvious in older specimens); antennae, tips of propodeal spines and legs dark brown to black, at most only slightly lighter in colour than body and generally the same colour as body.

This species most closely resembles Dolichoderus doriae but can be differentiated by the dark coloured legs, in contrast to the yellow legs found in D. doriae.

Nomenclature

 * tristis. Dolichoderus (Hypoclinea) tristis Clark, 1930b: 254, fig. 2 (w.) AUSTRALIA. [Junior primary homonym of tristis Mann, above.] Replacement name: clarki Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69.
 *  clarki. Dolichoderus (Acanthoclinea) clarki Wheeler, W.M. 1935c: 69. Replacement name for tristis Clark, 1930b: 254. [Junior primary homonym of tristis Mann, 1916: 463.] See also: Shattuck, 1994: 45.

Description
The available material shows slight variation in leg colour, which is most commonly black but in some individuals is slightly lighter (reddish-black). Otherwise all specimens are similar.

Measurements (n=5). CI 95–97; EI 17–19; EL 0.27–0.32; HL 1.65–1.76; HW 1.59–1.69; ML 2.52–2.71; MTL 1.64–1.89; PronI 65.13–77.06; PronW 1.10–1.22; SI 110–115; SL 1.74–1.95.

Additional References

 * Shattuck, S.O. & Marsden, S. 2013. Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa 3716, 101–143 (doi 10.11646/zootaxa.3716.2.1).