Labidus

Species richness
Species richness by country based on regional taxon lists (countries with darker colours are more species-rich). View Data



Nomenclature

 *  LABIDUS [Ecitoninae: Ecitonini]
 * Labidus Jurine, 1807: 282. Type-species: Labidus latreillii (junior synonym of Formica coeca), by monotypy.
 * Labidus subgenus of Mutilla: Blanchard, in Cuvier, 1846: pl. 118, fig. 2.
 * Labidus junior synonym of Eciton: Dalla Torre, 1893: 1.
 * Labidus revived from synonymy as subgenus of Eciton: Emery, 1910b: 21.
 * Labidus revived status as genus: Borgmeier, 1953: 4.
 * Labidus senior synonym of Nycteresia, Pseudodichthadia: Emery, 1910b: 21; Borgmeier, 1955: 80.
 * NYCTERESIA [junior synonym of Labidus]
 * Nycteresia Roger, 1861a: 21. Type-species: Formica coeca, by monotypy.
 * Nycteresia junior synonym of Eciton: Mayr, 1865: 76.
 * Nycteresia junior synonym of Labidus: Emery, 1910b: 21; Borgmeier, 1955: 80.
 * PSEUDODICHTHADIA [junior synonym of Labidus]
 * Pseudodichthadia André, 1885: 838. Type-species: Pseudodichthadia incerta (junior synonym of Formica coeca), by monotypy.
 * Pseudodichthadia junior synonym of Eciton: André, in Forel, 1899c: 160 (footnote).
 * Pseudodichthadia junior synonym of Labidus: Emery, 1910b: 21.

Male
Shuckard (1840) - Char. Body elongate, cylindrical.

Head small, short, transverse, flat.

Antennae varying in length, usually setaceous, curved and inserted within two facial projections (forming vertical carinae) upon the anterior margin of the nearly obsolete clypeus, the scape never more than one-fourth the length of the flagellum, the apex of which frequently extends as far back as the insertion of the superior wings.

Eyes large, lateral, subglobose, and very prominent.

Ocelli large and very prominent, and placed in a curve upon the vertex.

Mandibles elongate, slender, arcuate, and forcipate, always leaving an open space usually semicircular between them and the clypeus.

Labrum triangular, the apex rounded, and in repose shutting down upon and inclosing the internal trophi.

Maxillary palpi two-jointed, shorter than the labial?

Labial palpi two-jointed, slender, the basal joint the longest.

Labium triangular.

Thorax ovate, gibbous: prothorax extending laterally to the insertion of the wings, which is at about half the length of the thorax: scutellum transverse: metathorax perpendicular and abruptly truncated.

Superior wings usually as long or longer than the abdomen, rarely shorter, with one marginal and three submarginal cells, which vary in form in the species, and one recurrent nervure, which is inserted about the middle of the second submarginal cell.

Legs varying in length in the species: coxae large, not deeply excavated above: trochanters small, triangular: femora and tibiae cylindrical, all the latter with a single calcar at their apex, which is usually dilated at the base: tarsi long and slender, the basal joint the most robust and the longest, the remainder decreasing in length, excepting the terminal one, which is a little longer than the penultimate: claws armed with a minute tooth just within the apex, and furnished with a small pulvillus within their fork.

Abdomen cylindrical, slightly curved, the segments frequently slightly constricted, the basal one forming a variously constructed peduncle, occasionally either flat or concave above, but most frequently transversely convex, and ... always separated from the following by a deep incisure. Penultimate and antepenultimate segments subequal, and the terminal one strictly compressed vertically at its apex, where it is profoundly emarginate. The male sexual organ usually protruding in the form of a deeply canaliculated and ernarginated plate or two acuminated compressed and curved spines.