Vombisidris australis

Identification
A member of the australis group

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Leptothorax (Goniothorax) australis Wheeler, W.M. 1934b: 60 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Queensland).
 * Type-material: 2 syntype workers.
 * Type-locality: Australia: Queensland, Cairns Distr. (A.M. Lea).
 * Type-depository: MCZC (second syntype perhaps in SAMA).
 * Taylor, 1989b: 608 (q.).
 * Combination in Vombisidris: Bolton, 1991: 7.
 * Status as species: Taylor & Brown, 1985: 65; Taylor, 1987a: 36; Taylor, 1989b: 607; Bolton, 1991: 7; Bolton, 1995b: 423; Xu & Yu, 2012: 1500 (in key).
 * Distribution: Australia.

Worker
Length about 2.7 mm.

Head somewhat longer than broad, broader behind than in front, with short, faintly sinuate posterior border, very broadly rounded posterior corners and nearly straight, anteriorly converging sides. Eyes rather large and convex, situated slightly in front of the middle of the head. Mandibles stout, with convex external borders, the masticatory borders with three terminal teeth but with the basal half straight and indistinctly crenulate. Clypeus convex, its anterior border broadly rounded and entire in the middle, sinuate on each side. Frontal carinae thin, rounded, scarcely diverging behind; frontal area distinct, impressed, elongate; frontal groove absent. Antennae stout, 12-jointed; scapes strongly curved at the base, their tips reaching to slightly more than two-thirds the distance between their insertions and the posterior border of the head; first funicular joint as long as joints 2 and 3 together, 2 nearly as long as broad, 3-8 decidedly broader than long, remaining joints forming a very distinct 3-jointed club, the combined two subequal basal joints of which are shorter than the terminal. Thorax in profile with broadly arcuate dorsal outline, but slightly and indistinctly impressed at the mesoepinotal suture, broadest through the pronotum; neck large, anterior border of pronotum arcuate, its anterior angles distinct but neither acute nor dentate, its sides straight, parallel and marginate anteriorly, straight and converging posteriorly; promesonotal suture obsolete; mesonotum short, nearly twice as broad as long, with subangulate sides and somewhat flattened dorsal surface; epinotum longer than broad, subrectangular, slightly narrower than the mesonotum, its base from above subhexagonal, with very prominent spiracles, the spines stout and blunt, as long as their distance apart at the base, directed backward and slightly upward and curved inward; the declivity in profile shorter than the base, straight and abrupt above, concave below. Petiole more than twice as long as broad, its peduncle long and stout, as long as the node, with prominent spiracles anteriorly and a sharp anteroventral tooth; the node from above somewhat broader than long, subrectangular, with evenly rounded sides; in profile with concave anterior, straight and horizontal superior and short and convex posterior surface. Postpetiole distinctly broader than the petiolar node, rounded trapezoidal, about one and three-fourths times as broad as long, broader in front than behind, with broadly arcuate anterior border, distinct but blunt anterior angles and straight, rather strongly posteriorly converging sides. Gaster elliptical, with excised anterior border. Femora and tibiae distinctly incrassated.

Shining, the head, thorax and pedicel less so than the gaster and legs; mandibles very finely punctulate or shagreened, with sparser, indistinct, elongate punctures. Clypeus, head and thorax coarsely and reticulately rugose, the rugae more longitudinal on the clypeus, front, thoracic dorsum and pleurae; the interrugal spaces shining and irregularly reticulate; epinotum, petiole and postpetiole finely and regularly reticulate or densely punctate, the petiolar node also irregularly longitudinally rugose, but less sharply than the head and thorax. Gaster and legs smooth and shining, with sparse piligerous punctures; antennal scapes finely punctulate.

Hairs pale yellowish; those on the head, antennal scapes, thorax and abdomen rather abundant, regularly arranged, erect and clavate; those on the legs short, sparse, pointed and appressed.

Brown; head posteriorly and gaster, except anteriorly and posteriorly, darker, castaneous; mandibles, clypeus, bases and borders of posterior gastric segments, antennae and legs, including the coxae, brownish yellow or yellowish brown

Type Material
Two specimens taken by A. M. Lea in the Cairns District, Queensland.



References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bolton B. 1991. New myrmicine genera from the Oriental Region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Systematic Entomology 16:1-13.
 * 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.
 * Taylor R. W. 1989. Australasian ants of the genus Leptothorax Mayr (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae). Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 27:605-610.
 * Wheeler W. M. 1934. An Australian ant of the genus Leptothorax Mayr. Psyche (Cambridge) 41: 60-62.