Holcoponera preciosa

The summit of Mt. Austen, the type locality, is only 410m high. Most of the area surrounding Mt. Austen has suffered extensive deforestation in recent years (Lattke 2004).

Identification
Lattke (2004) - This is one of the most striking and distinct of all Old World Holcoponera due to its very elongate body, posteriorly inclined petiolar node and bulging eyes.

Distribution
Endemic to the Solomon Islands.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Indo-Australian Region: Solomon Islands.

Castes
Males are unknown.

Nomenclature

 * . Gnamptogenys preciosa Lattke, 2004: 66, fig. 14 (w.q.) SOLOMON IS (Guadalcanal I.).
 * Type-material: holotype worker, 1 paratype queen.
 * Type-locality: holotype Solomon Is: Guadalcanal, Mt Austen, ix.-xi.1964, no. 21478 (P. Greenslade); paratype with same data.
 * Type-depository: ANIC.
 * Combination in Holcoponera: Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Status as species: Sarnat, et al. 2013: 69; Camacho, Franco, Branstetter, et al. 2022: 11.
 * Distribution: Solomon Is.

Eyes subglobulose; head elongate (CI 0.69); scapes slender, surpassing posterior cephalic margin by more than two apical widths, smooth with sparse punctae; clypeal lamella convex with median lobe. Petiole reclined in lateral view, anterior margin straight, dorsal margin convex and slightly overhanging concave posterior margin, spiracle on anterolateral process, not below it; subpetiolar process forming narrow anteriorly projecting lobe; metacoxal dorsum unarmed.

Worker
Metrics. Holotype: HL 1.07, HW 0.74, ML 0.48, SL 1.13, ED 0.14, WL 1.48 mm. CI 0.69, SI 1.53, MI 0.65, OI 0.19. Head markedly elongate in frontal view, lateral margins subparallel; posterior margin with shallow median concavity; anterior clypeal margin convex; vertex mostly smooth; occipital lamella present; occipital lobe absent; frontal lobe projecting dorsolaterally, with convex anterior margin and straight posterior margin; scape slender, surpassing posterior cephalic margin by more than two apical widths, smooth with sparse punctae, shaft slightly enlarged preapically; first funicular segment longer than wide. Frons rugose-punctate, area posterad of frontal triangle bulging, noticeably higher than surrounding surface; clypeal lamella convex, with median lobe; mandibles dorsally smooth, sparsely punctae, masticatory border denticulate. Eye subglobulose, reduced in diameter, ommatidia large.

Pronotum mostly smooth, laterally with shallow foveolae, anteroventral corner rounded; promesonotal suture impressed as fine line; mesonotum mostly smooth with sparse punctae and strigulae; metanotal groove indistinct; anepisternum semirectangular, not distinctly separated from metapleuron by suture; metapleuron relatively broad, longitudinally strigulose; propodeum laterally mostly smooth, spiracle separated from declivity by less than one spiracular diameter, propodeal declivity smooth; propodeal dorsum and declivitous margin respectively broadly convex, almost straight in lateral view. Petiole reclined in lateral view, anterior margin straight, dorsal margin convex and slightly overhanging concave posterior margin; subpetiolar process forming narrow anteriorly projecting lobe, anterior ridge present, spiracle situated on anterolateral process, not below it. Postpetiolar process straight in anterior view, ventrally convex; petiole and gaster mostly smooth, some strigulae present along anterior petiolar surface. Fore coxa smooth laterally; basal fore tarsal segment smooth with sparse punctulae, single stout seta situated opposite strigil; second fore tarsal segment with four stout apical setae; fore tarsal segments 2-4 longer than wide; denticle of tarsal claws reduced; meso- and metacoxae dorsally transversely strigulose; metacoxal dorsum unarmed. Dorsum of thorax, and abdominal segments 1-4 usually with scattered erect to subdecumbent hairs. Head, mesosoma light brown; petiole, gaster ferruginous; legs, antennna, mandibles ferruginous yellow.

Queen
Queen. Metrics (n = 1): HL 1.08, HW 0.76, ML 0.51, SL 1.12, ED 0.19, WL 1.59 mm. CI 0.70, SI 1.47, MI 0.67, OI 0.25. Sculpturing more defined than worker. Pronotum laterally foveolate; mesopleuron obliquely strigulose; mesonotum longitudinally strigulose; axilla with large punctae on smooth background; scutellum convex, relatively prominent, with median longitudinal sulcus and some punctae, posteriorly with transverse parallel carinulae; metapleuron longitudinally strigulose, metanotum with oblique to longitudinal strigulae.

Type Material
Holotype worker. Solomon Islands: Guadalcanal, Mt. Austen, ix-xi-1964, P. Greenslade 21478. Deposited in. Paratype. One dealate queen with same data as holotype deposited in ANIC.

Etymology
The species name is derived from the Latin pretiosus, meaning “dear” or “precious” and alludes to the aesthetic appeal of this ant.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * CSIRO Collection
 * Lattke J. E. 2004. A taxonomic revision and phylogenetic analysis of the ant genus Gnamptogenys Roger in Southeast Asia and Australasia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae). University of California Publications in Entomology 122: 1-266.