Lepisiota pulchella

This species seems to be distributed in the Western Ghats and other parts of central India. Records from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal (Bharti et al. 2016) seem to be a misidentification of Lepisiota opaca. The workers were mainly collected from honey baits and by beating vegetation. (Wachkoo et al., 2021)

Identification
This medium-sized ant resembles Lepisiota fergusoni and Lepisiota opaca. The main characters that enable distinguishing it from L. opaca are a combination of a dull and opaque body with a distinctly reticulate-punctate head and mesosoma. L. opaca is smooth and shiny with superficial reticulate sculpture. (Wachkoo et al., 2021)

Lepisiota pulchella differs from Lepisiota opaca in the sculpture of gaster, which is microreticulate and subopaque in the former while smooth and shiny in the latter (Harshana & Dey, 2022).

Distribution
China, India (Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra) (Forel 1894; Guénard & Dunn 2012; Dad et al. 2019; Wachkoo et al., 2021).

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Oriental Region: India, Sri Lanka. Palaearctic Region: China.

Nomenclature

 * . Acantholepis opaca r. pulchella Forel, 1892a: 43 (diagnosis in key) (w.) INDIA (Maharashtra).
 * Combination in Lepisiota: Bolton, 1995b: 228.
 * Subspecies of opaca: Emery, in Dalla Torre, 1893: 172 (footnote); Forel, 1894c: 414; Forel, 1895e: 458; Emery, 1925b: 27; Chapman & Capco, 1951: 210; Bolton, 1995b: 228; Guénard & Dunn, 2012: 34; Bharti, Guénard, et al. 2016: 28.
 * Status as species: Dalla Torre, 1893: 172; Bingham, 1903: 318; Wu, J. & Wang, 1995: 129; Zhou, 2001b: 168; Wachkoo et al., 2021: 238.

Taxonomic Notes
This medium-sized ant originally described by Forel (1892) as an infraspecific taxon opaca r. pulchella was raised to species rank by Bingham (1903). Emery (1925) without any justification reverted it back to subspecies. It is a valid species, resembling more closely Lepisiota fergusoni than Lepisiota opaca and is therefore revived to species level. (Wachkoo et al., 2021)

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Bharti H., Y. P. Sharma, M. Bharti, and M. Pfeiffer. 2013. Ant species richness, endemicity and functional groups, along an elevational gradient in the Himalayas. Asian Myrmecology 5: 79-101.
 * Cheng D., Z. Chen, and S. Zhou. 2015. An analysis on the ant fauna of Jinzhongshan Nature Reserve in Gunagxi, China. Journal of Guangxi Normal University: Natural Science Edition 33(3): 129.137.
 * Dad J. M., S. A. Akbar, H. Bharti, and A. A. Wachkoo. 2019. Community structure and ant species diversity across select sites ofWestern Ghats, India. Acta Ecologica Sinica 39: 219–228.