Lioponera clarki

Brown (1975) - In Australia, a raid of L. clarki was observed in 1951 in open eucalypt woodland at Berrimah, near Darwin, Northern Territory, over bare soil against a nest of a small Iridomyrmex in bright morning sunlight. This raid was very loose and involved only 3 or 4 Lioponera workers while I watched it, so it may have been the final stages of an action begun much earlier.

Identification
Heterick (2009) - Lioponera clarki is distinguished by the lack of a dorsolateral cephalic carina curving towards the eye, lack of ocelli and a wide node with posterior angles that in dorsal view extend laterally beyond its anterior margin.

Distribution
Heterick (2009) - A predominantly sand-plain species that is also found in the NT and drier areas of south-eastern Australia.

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Nomenclature

 * . Phyracaces clarki Crawley, 1922b: 433 (w.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
 * Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated, “a small colony”).
 * Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, Darlington, no. 9 (J. Clark).
 * Type-depository: OXUM.
 * Combination in Cerapachys: Brown, 1975: 22;
 * combination in Lioponera: Borowiec, M.L. 2016: 163.
 * Status as species: Brown, 1975: 22, 66; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142; Heterick, 2009: 128.
 * Senior synonym of castaneus: Brown, 1975: 22; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142.
 * Distribution: Australia.
 * castaneus. Phyracaces castaneus Clark, 1924b: 79, pl. 7, figs. 7-14 (w.q.m.) AUSTRALIA (Western Australia).
 * Type-material: syntype worker, syntype queens, syntype males (numbers not stated, “Described from a colony containing workers, females, males, and two pseudogynes”).
 * Type-locality: Australia: Western Australia, Hovea (J. Clark).
 * Type-depository: MVMA.
 * Junior synonym of clarki: Brown, 1975: 22; Taylor & Brown, 1985: 24; Taylor, 1987a: 17; Bolton, 1995b: 142.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Heterick B. E., B. Durrant, and N. R. Gunawardene. 2010. The ant fauna of the Pilbara Bioregion, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 78: 157-167.