Tetraponera variegata

Its range broadly overlaps the distributions of Tetraponera grandidieri, Tetraponera inermis and Tetraponera merita. Specimens have been collected in Malaise traps and foraging on vegetation. Up to this point no nests have been found. (Ward 2009)

Identification
Ward (2009) - A member of the Tetraponera grandidieri group. T. variegata can be distinguished from related species by the bicolored body and black banded legs. Tetraponera grandidieri lacks black banding on the legs and, although the body is often bicolored, only the head is dark, not the head and gaster (as in T. variegata). Although such color differences might appear to be a weak basis for treating T. variegata as a species distinct from T. grandidieri, the two forms have been collected sympatrically at several sites (PN Marojejy, PN Ranomafana, Foret Ivohibe) without showing any signs of intergradation. One other species, Tetraponera hespera, from northwestern Madagascar, exhibits black leg banding in most populations but in that species the body is unicolored light yellow or orange-brown.

Distribution
T. variegata is known from several widely scattered locations in the rainforest zone of eastern Madagascar.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Malagasy Region: Madagascar.

Nomenclature

 *  variegata. Sima grandidieri var. variegata Forel, 1895h: 487 (w.) MADAGASCAR. Santschi, 1926a: 27 (q.). Combination in Tetraponera: Wheeler, W.M. 1922a: 1014. Raised to species: Ward, 2009: 300.

Worker
Ward (2009) - (n = 6). HW 1.15-1.36, HL 1.36-1.62, LHT 1.39-1.59, CI 0.80-0.85, FCI 0.13-0.17, REL 0.29-0.32, REL2 0.35-0.38, SI 0.76-0.81, FI 0.30-0.32, PLI 0.49-0.55, PWI 0.41-0.46.

Similar to Tetraponera grandidieri (q.v.), but larger on average. Basal margin of mandible lacking tooth; anterior clypeal margin broadly convex and crenulate, directed forward; metanotal spiracle visible in lateral view of mesosoma; dorsal face of propodeum broadly convex in posterior view; standing pilosity and appressed pubescence generally sparse; integument mostly sublucid, with fine coriarious/puncticulate sculpture; mesosoma, petiole and postpetiole orange-brown, head and gaster a contrasting blackish brown, legs with a black band on the distal portions of the femora.

Type Material
Ward (2009) - Syntypes, 2 workers, "Centr Madag." (Sikora) [examined] [Imaged on AntWeb: CASENT0101045, CASENT0101046]. Syn. n. One syntype (CASENT0101046) here designated lectotype.

I have designated a lectotype for T. variegata since there is a dealate queen in (Basel) from Moramanga (leg. Descarpentries) labeled, incorrectly, as a variegata “type.” This specimen has no status as a type, but it reflects the practice of earlier myrmecologists of designating “type specimens” for queens and males when they were described later than the worker caste of the same species.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Fisher B. L. 1997. Biogeography and ecology of the ant fauna of Madagascar (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Natural History 31: 269-302.
 * Fisher B. L. 2003. Formicidae, ants. Pp. 811-819 in: Goodman, S. M.; Benstead, J. P. (eds.) 2003. The natural history of Madagascar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, xxi + 1709 pp.
 * Forel A. 1895. Quelques fourmis du centre de Madagascar. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique 39: 485-488.
 * Ward P. S. 2009. The Ant Genus Tetraponera in the Afrotropical region: the T. grandidieri group (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research: Festschrift Honoring Roy Snelling, 18: 385-304
 * Wheeler W. M. 1922. Ants of the American Museum Congo expedition. A contribution to the myrmecology of Africa. IX. A synonymic list of the ants of the Malagasy region. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45: 1005-1055