Odontomachus nigriceps

Identification
A member of the Odontomachus tyrannicus group.

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

Nomenclature

 * . Odontomachus nigriceps Smith, F. 1860b: 103, pl. 1, fig. 9 (w.) NEW GUINEA (Indonesia).
 * [Note: in this publication Smith also gives pl.1, fig. 9 as saevissimus.]
 * Type-material: 2 syntype workers.
 * Type-locality: Indonesia: Irian Jaya, Dory (= Manokwari) (A.R. Wallace).
 * Type-depositories: BMNH, OXUM.
 * [Note: there is no way of knowing if the OXUM specimen, marked as “type” by Donisthorpe, is a true syntype or not. The specimen in BMNH is mounted in the same way as the OXUM specimen, but the forms of the data labels differ. The OXUM specimen has only the standard paper disc, marked “DORY”, without other information. The BMNH specimen has a printed rectangular label, “59/58 Dory. New Guinea,” for which the Accessions Register gives, “1859 no. 58 (June 24) Dory, New Guinea. Purchased of Mr S. Stevens; collected by Mr Alfred Wallace.”]
 * Subspecies of tyrannicus: Emery, 1897d: 557; Emery, 1911d: 113; Donisthorpe, 1947c: 579; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 47.
 * Status as species: Smith, F. 1863: 19; Roger, 1863b: 21; Mayr, 1863: 437; Smith, F. 1865: 70; Smith, F. 1871a: 319; Mayr, 1876: 85; Emery, 1887b: 429; Emery, 1892d: 559 (in key); Dalla Torre, 1893: 51; Emery, 1911b: 531; Donisthorpe, 1932c: 461; Wilson, 1959a: 496; Brown, 1976a: 105; Bolton, 1995b: 296.
 * Senior synonym of praefectus: Wilson, 1959a: 496; Brown, 1976a: 105; Bolton, 1995b: 296.
 * Distribution: Indonesia (Irian Jaya), Papua New Guinea.
 * praefectus. Odontomachus angulatus subsp. praefectus Forel, 1911e: 251 (w.) NEW GUINEA (no state data).
 * Type-material: holotype worker.
 * Type-locality: New Guinea (no further data) (Bates).
 * Type-depository: ZSBS.
 * Junior synonym of nigriceps: Wilson, 1959a: 496; Brown, 1976a: 105; Bolton, 1995b: 297.

Odontomachus nigriceps

There is no way of knowing if the specimen marked as “type” by Donisthorpe is the true holotype or not. There is a second specimen, in, that is mounted in the same way as the specimen, but the forms of the data labels differ.

specimen has the standard paper disc, marked “DORY” (= Dory I., New Guinea), without other information.

specimen has a printed rectangular label, “59/58 Dory. New Guinea.” Acc. Reg.: “1859 no. 58 (June 24) Dory, New Guinea. Purchased of Mr S. Stevens; collected by Mr Alfred Wallace.”

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Brown W. L., Jr. 1976. Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. Part VI. Ponerinae, tribe Ponerini, subtribe Odontomachiti. Section A. Introduction, subtribal characters. Genus Odontomachus. Stud. Entomol. 19: 67-171.
 * CSIRO Collection
 * Donisthorpe H. 1947. Ants from New Guinea, including new species and a new genus. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (11)13: 577-595.
 * Emery C. 1887. Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine). [concl.]. Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. 25(5): 427-473.
 * Emery C. 1911. Formicidae. Résultats de l'expédition scientifique néerlandaise à la Nouvelle-Guinée en 1903 sous les auspices de Arthur Wichmann. Nova Guinea 5: 531-539.
 * Emery C. 1911. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Ponerinae. Genera Insectorum 118: 1-125.
 * Emery, C. "Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine)." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 5, no. 25 (1887): 427-473.
 * Forel A. 1911. Die Ameisen des K. Zoologischen Museums in München. Sitzungsber. Math.-Phys. Kl. K. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. Münch. 11: 249-303.
 * Janda M., G. D. Alpert, M. L. Borowiec, E. P. Economo, P. Klimes, E. Sarnat, and S. O. Shattuck. 2011. Cheklist of ants described and recorded from New Guinea and associated islands. Available on http://www.newguineants.org/. Accessed on 24th Feb. 2011.
 * Room P. M. 1975. Diversity and organization of the ground foraging ant faunas of forest, grassland and tree crops in Papua Nez Guinea. Aust. J. Zool. 23: 71-89.
 * Room, P.M. 1975. Relative Distributions of Ant Species in Cocoa Plantations in Papua New Guinea Relative Distributions of Ant Species in Cocoa Plantations in Papua New Guinea. Journal of Applied Ecology 12(1):47-61
 * Smith F. 1863. Catalogue of hymenopterous insects collected by Mr. A. R. Wallace in the islands of Mysol, Ceram, Waigiou, Bouru and Timor. Journal and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. Zoology 7: 6-48.
 * Smith F. 1865. Descriptions of new species of hymenopterous insects from the islands of Sumatra, Sula, Gilolo, Salwatty, and New Guinea, collected by Mr. A. R. Wallace. Journal and Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. Zoology 8: 61-94.
 * Viehmeyer H. 1912. Ameisen aus Deutsch Neuguinea gesammelt von Dr. O. Schlaginhaufen. Nebst einem Verzeichnisse der papuanischen Arten. Abhandlungen und Berichte des Königlichen Zoologischen und Anthropologische-Ethnographischen Museums zu Dresden 14: 1-26.
 * Wilson E. O. 1959. Studies on the ant fauna of Melanesia V. The tribe Odontomachini. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 120: 483-510.
 * Wilson Edward O. 1959. Adaptive Shift and Dispersal in a Tropical Ant Fauna. Evolution 13(1): 122-144