Echinopla senilis

Identification
Zettel and Laciny (2015) - Echinopla senilis is very similar to Echinopla lineata. With more specimens of E. lineata available, some differences given by Mayr (1862) and subsequently by Mayr (1865) are not diagnostic. In fresh specimens of E. lineata the appressed hair is as abundant as in Echinopla senilis, and the shape of the petiole is rather variable. A bluish black colour of the body (“blauschwarz” in Mayr 1862, “dunkelblau” in Mayr 1865) can hardly be recognized in the lectotype of E. senilis. However, the sculptural differences are rather strong and were clearly pointed out by Gustav Mayr (1862, 1865): On the clypeus and on the sides of the mesosoma the striation is regularly striate in E. lineata whereas it is intermixed with punctures in E. senilis; at the hind margin of the propodeum and on the posterior face of the petiole, the sculpture consists of transverse striae in E. lineata whereas it is irregular and fine in E. senilis. Moreover the propodeum is anteriorly more strongly, more roundly constricted in E. senilis.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: Nicobar Island.

Nomenclature

 *  senilis. Echinopla senilis Mayr, 1862: 690 (w.) INDIA (Nicobar Is). Subspecies of lineata: Emery, 1896d: 382. Raised to species: Zettel & Laciny, 2015: 118.

Worker
Zettel and Laciny (2015) - Lectotype. TL 7.2; HW1 1.85; HW2 1.80; HL 1.67; EL 0.37; SL 1.72; SW 0.20; HaL 0.36; PML 1.30; PMW 1.63; PpL 1.13; PpW 1.28; PH 0.50; PL 0.55; PW 1.28; GL 1.96; GW 2.15. Indices: CI 110; SI 93; MI 149.

Type Material
Lectotype (worker, present designation) from “Sambelong” (Mayr 1862). Although the collection of contains two specimens labelled as E. senilis, only one specimen fairly agrees with Mayr’s (1862) original description and is designated as the lectotype. This lectotype does not bear a locality label and we do not know about records that connect the code letter K with a specific locality of the Novara expedition. We trust Mayr (1862) that the type was collected in “Sambelong”, a name for the Southern Group of the Nicobar Islands. The second specimen in NHMW was probably mislabelled by the former curator Anton Handlirsch (1865–1935) when he integrated Mayr’s collection into the museum’s main collection. It is a typical specimen of E. lineata and bears the same code letter Q as the lectotype of E. lineata (see notes of this species).