Mesoponera melanaria

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Malagasy Region: Seychelles. Oriental Region: India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam. Palaearctic Region: China.

Nomenclature

 * . Ponera melanaria Emery, 1893g: 260 (footnote) (w.) SRI LANKA.
 * Type-material: holotype worker.
 * Type-locality: Sri Lanka (“Ceylan”): (no further data) (E. Simon).
 * Type-depository: MSNG.
 * [Ponera melanaria Emery, 1893f: 242. Nomen nudum.]
 * Bingham, 1903: 100 (q.); Donisthorpe, 1942d: 450 (m.); Wheeler, G.C. & Wheeler, J. 1971b: 1206 (l.).
 * Combination in Euponera (Mesoponera): Emery, 1900d: 668;
 * combination in Pachycondyla: Brown, in Bolton, 1995b: 307;
 * combination in Mesoponera: Bingham, 1903: 100; Schmidt, C.A. & Shattuck, 2014: 111.
 * Status as species: Mayr, 1897: 422; Forel, 1900d: 326; Emery, 1900d: 668; Bingham, 1903: 100; Emery, 1911d: 81; Forel, 1911i: 216; Forel, 1913k: 8; Donisthorpe, 1942d: 450; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 64; Bolton, 1995b: 307; Tiwari, 1999: 31; Zhou & Ran, 2010: 108; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 61; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 52.
 * Distribution: China, India, Indonesia (Sumatra), Myanmar, Sri Lanka.
 * Current subspecies: nominal plus macra.

Description
Worker

Bingham (1903): Dark castaneous brown, smooth and somewhat shining; the mandibles, antennae and legs much lighter, inclining to reddish. Pilosity almost absent, confined to a few erect somewhat long hairs on the clypeus and mandibles, and on the apex of and beneath the abdomen. Head with the cheeks somewhat flattened, the posterior lateral angles rounded, not prominent, as broad in front as posteriorly. Node of the pedicel very convex in front, flat, almost concave, posteriorly, not so broad at the apex as at base. For the rest the characters of the genus.

Length: 7.5 - 8.5 mm

Queen

Bingham (1903): Exactly similar to the worker, lighter in colour, with the sex differences as noted under the generic characters.

Length: 9 mm

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Basu P., N. Tak, and A. K. Sanyal. 2013. Ants (insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Bethuadahari wildlife sanctuary, Nadia, West Bengal, India. Rec. zool, Surv. India: 113(4): 17-22.
 * Chapman, J. W., and Capco, S. R. 1951. Check list of the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Asia. Monogr. Inst. Sci. Technol. Manila 1: 1-327
 * Dad J. M., S. A. Akbar, H. Bharti, and A. A. Wachkoo. 2019. Community structure and ant species diversity across select sites ofWestern Ghats, India. Acta Ecologica Sinica 39: 219–228.
 * Dias R. K. S. 2002. Current knowledge on ants of Sri Lanka. ANeT Newsletter 4: 17- 21.
 * Dias R. K. S., and R. P. K. C. Rajapaksa. 2016. Geographic records of subfamilies, genera and species of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in the four climatic zones of Sri Lanka: a review. J. Sci. Univ. Kelaniya 11(2): 23-45.
 * Eguchi K., B. T. Viet, and S. Yamane. 2014. Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part IICerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae. Zootaxa 3860: 001-046.
 * Emery C. 1893. Voyage de M. E. Simon à l'île de Ceylan (janvier-février 1892). Formicides. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France 62: 239-258.
 * Emery C. 1911. Hymenoptera. Fam. Formicidae. Subfam. Ponerinae. Genera Insectorum 118: 1-125.
 * Emery, C.. "Formiche raccolte da Elio Modigliani in Sumatra, Engano e Mentawei." Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale Giacomo Doria (Genova) (2) 20, no. 40 (1900): 661-722.
 * Fontanilla A. M., A. Nakamura, Z. Xu, M. Cao, R. L. Kitching, Y. Tang, and C. J. Burwell. 2019. Taxonomic and functional ant diversity along tropical, subtropical, and subalpine elevational transects in southwest China. Insects 10, 128; doi:10.3390/insects10050128
 * Forel A. 1900. Les Formicides de l'Empire des Indes et de Ceylan. Part VII. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 13: 303-332.
 * Forel A. 1911. Ameisen aus Ceylon, gesammelt von Prof. K. Escherich (einige von Prof. E. Bugnion). Pp. 215-228 in: Escherich, K. Termitenleben auf Ceylon. Jena: Gustav Fischer, xxxii + 262 pp.
 * [[Media:Forel 1913l.pdf|Forel A. 1913k. Wissenschaftliche Ergebnisse einer Forschungsreise nach Ostindien ausgeführt im Auftrage der Kgl. Preuss. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin von H. v. Buttel-Reepen. II. Ameisen aus Sumatra, Java, Malacca und Ceylon. Gesammelt von Herrn Prof. Dr. v. Buttel-Reepen in den Jahren 1911-1912. Zoologische Jahrbücher. Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und Biologie der Tiere 36:1-148.]]
 * Gumawardene, N.R., J.D. Majer and J.P. Edirisinghe. 2008. Diversity and richness of ant species in a lowland wet forest reserve in Sri Lanka. Asian Myrmecology 2:71-83
 * Gunawardene N. R., J. D. Majer, and J. P. Edirisinghe. 2008. Diversity and richness of ant species in a lowland wet forest reserve in Sri Lanka. Asian Myrmecology 2: 71-83.
 * Gunawardene N. R., J. D. Majer, and J. P. Edirisinghe. 2012. Correlates of ant 5Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and tree species diversity in Sri Lanka. Myrmecological News 17: 81-90.
 * Guénard B., and R. R. Dunn. 2012. A checklist of the ants of China. Zootaxa 3558: 1-77.
 * Li Q., Z. Lu, Z. Wei, M. Yanyan, and F. Ping. 2015. Communities of ground-dwelling ants in different plantation forest in arid-hot valleys of Jinsha river, Yunnan Province, China. Scientia Silvae Sinicae 51(8): 134-142.
 * Musthak Ali T. M. 1991. Ant Fauna of Karnataka-1. Newsletter of IUSSI Indian Chapter 5(1-2): 1-8.
 * Song Y., Z. Xu, C. Li, N. Zhang, L. Zhang, H. Jiang, and F. Mo. 2013. An Analysis on the Ant Fauna of the Nangun river Nature Reserve in Yunnan, China. Forest Research 26(6): 773-780.
 * Tak N., and S. I. Kazmi. 2013. On some ants (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Nagaland, India. Rec. zool. Surv. India: 113(1): 169-182.
 * Tiwari R. N. 1999. Taxonomic studies on ants of southern India (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Memoirs of the Zoological Survey of India 18(4): 1-96.
 * Tiwari, R.N. 1999. Taxonomic studies on ants of southern India (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Memoirs of the Zoological Survey of India 18(4):1-96
 * Varghese T. 2004. Taxonomic studies on ant genera of the Indian Institute of Science campus with notes on their nesting habits. Pp. 485-502 in : Rajmohana, K.; Sudheer, K.; Girish Kumar, P.; Santhosh, S. (eds.) 2004. Perspectives on biosystematics and biodiversity. Prof. T.C. Narendran commemoration volume. Kerala: Systematic Entomology Research Scholars Association, xxii + 666 pp.
 * 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
 * Xu Z. 1998. A report of fourty-one ant species newly recorded in China from Xishuangbanna District of Yunnan Province (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zhongguo Xue Shu Qi Kan Wen Zhai 4: 1119-1121.
 * Zhang R., X. Zhou, Q. Tang, and S. Zhou. 2016. Morphometrics of thirteen species of the genus Pachycondyla (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in China. Chinese Journal of Applied Entomology 53(5): 1130-1137.
 * Zryanin V. A. 2011. An eco-faunistic review of ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). In: Structure and functions of soil communities of a monsoon tropical forest (Cat Tien National Park, southern Vietnam) / A.V. Tiunov (Editor). – M.: KMK Scientific Press. 2011. 277 р.101-124.