Asphinctopone

Hawkes, 2010: Asphinctopone is a rarely encountered genus of ponerine ants, previously known only from the wet forest zones of West and central Africa. In the most recent revision of the genus Bolton & Fisher synonymised the three previously described species under Asphinctopone silvestrii Santschi and described one new but very closely related species, Asphinctopone differens Bolton & Fisher. A very distinctive new species, Asphinctopone pilosa sp. n., is described from Tanzania and represents the first record of this genus from East Africa.

Nomenclature

 *  ASPHINCTOPONE [Ponerinae: Ponerini]
 * Asphinctopone Santschi, 1914d: 318. Type-species: Asphinctopone silvestrii, by monotypy.
 * Asphinctopone senior synonym of Lepidopone: Brown, 1953h: 2.
 * LEPIDOPONE [junior synonym of Asphinctopone]
 * Lepidopone Bernard, 1953b: 207. Type-species: Lepidopone lamottei (junior synonym of Asphinctopone silvestrii), by monotypy.
 * Lepidopone junior synonym of Asphinctopone: Brown, 1953h: 2.

Additional References

 * [[Media:Bernard 1953b.pdf|Bernard, F. 1953b [1952]. La réserve naturelle intégrale du Mt Nimba. XI. Hyménoptères Formicidae. Mém. Inst. Fr. Afr. Noire 19: 165-270 PDF]]


 * [[Media:Bolton & Fisher 2008.pdf|BOLTON, B. & FISHER, B.L. 2008a. The Afrotropical ponerine ant genus Asphinctopone Santschi. Zootaxa 1827: 53-61. PDF]]


 * [[Media:Brown 1953h.pdf|Brown, W. L., Jr. 1953h. Characters and synonymies among the genera of ants. Part II. Breviora 18: 1-8 PDF]]


 * [[Media:Hawkes 2010.pdf|Hawkes, P. G. 2010. A new species of Asphinctopone (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) from Tanzania. Zootaxa. 2480:27-36. PDF]]


 * [[Media:Santschi 1914d.pdf|Santschi, F. 1914d. Formicides de l'Afrique occidentale et australe du voyage de Mr. le Professeur F. Silvestri. Boll. Lab. Zool. Gen. Agrar. R. Sc. Super. Agric. 8: 309-385 PDF]]