Trichomyrmex kempi

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India.

Nomenclature

 * . Monomorium (Parholcomyrmex) kempi Mukerjee, 1930: 154, fig. 2 (w.) (no state data).
 * Type-material: syntype workers (number not stated, “several specimens”).
 * Type-locality: Country/State indeterminate: Seistan desert, Labi Baring (N. Annandale & S.W. Kemp).
 * [Note: Seistan desert lies in eastern Iran, southern Afghanistan, and western Pakistan. Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 39, record the species as Indian (Sikkim, West Bengal).]
 * Type-depository: unknown (no type-material known to exist).
 * [Note: Mukerjee says that the specimens are deposited in “Zoological Survey of India, Indian Museum, Calcutta”, now NZSI, but they have apparently been lost.]
 * Combination in Trichomyrmex: (provisional, unpublished).
 * [Note: provisional combination as original description cites Parholcomyrmex.]
 * Status as species: Bolton, 1995b: 263; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 39.
 * Distribution: not known with certainty.

Taxonomic Notes
Provisional combination in Trichomyrmex as original description cites Parholcomyrmex.

Description
Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description (Mukherjee, 1930) page 154 as Monomorium (Parholcomyrmex) kempi.

Worker

Major

Head rectangular, longer than broad, slightly emarginate at the occiput: eyes prominent, placed laterally at about the middle of the sides of the head, antennal carinae short; clypeus bicarinate, anteriorly truncate, posteriorly produced between the bases of the antennae; antennal and clypeal hollows confluent; mandibles toothed; antennae 12-jointed, with a three-jointed club nearly as long as the rest of the flagellum; 1st and 2nd joints of the flagellum subequal, joints 2-7 smaller than the rest. Scape clavate extending beyond the top of the head. Thorax narrower than head; pronotum convex above, its angles rounded; promesonotal suture distinct; thorax emarginate at the meso-metanotal suture; metanotum slightly gibbous and without any teeth or spines. First node petiolate, sub-conical and raised higher than the second node; second node cuboid; abdomen elongate oval. Legs moderately long. Head punctate, a few obsolete striae at its anterior end, rest of the body smooth, without any sculpture; body devoid of pubescence and hairs.

Head and nodes reddish brown; thorax yellowish brown; abdomen shining black with a metallic tint.

Length: 3.5 mm

Minor

Smaller than the major worker, otherwise resembling it in all respects.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bharti H. 2011. List of Indian ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Halteres 3: 79-87.
 * Mukerjee D. 1930. Report on a collection of ants in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 34: 149-163.