Myrmecia tarsata

Distribution based on Regional Taxon Lists
Australasian Region: Australia.

Biology
An incomplete colony excavated in 2007 (30km west of Dorrigo NSW) yielded over 500 workers, 160 cocoons and 173 larvae (C. Peeters unpublished data). Two cocoons contained partly-pigmented pupae of brachypterous queens, while other cocoons contained males.

Castes
McAreavey (1948) and Clark (1951, p. 28-31) described dimorphic flightless queens: ergatoid (permanently wingless) and brachypterous (short, non-functional wings).

Brachypterous queens generally retain unfused flight sclerites in the thorax. The short wings are often broken within hours of emergence, and wing scars give the impression of a queen capable of flight.



Nomenclature

 *  tarsata. Myrmecia tarsata Smith, F. 1858b: 145 (w.) AUSTRALIA. Roger, 1861a: 33 (q.); Clark, 1951: 30 (m.). See also: Crawley, 1926: 379; Clark, 1927: 34; Clark, 1951: 28.

Type Material


Holotype worker in. Labelled “N.H. Hunter R. 44/105” and with a det. label “tarsata Type Smith.” Specimen is very large, with swollen gaster.

References based on Global Ant Biodiversity Informatics

 * Clark J. 1927. The ants of Victoria. Part III. Victorian Naturalist (Melbourne) 44: 33-40.
 * Taylor R. W. 1987. A checklist of the ants of Australia, New Caledonia and New Zealand (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) Division of Entomology Report 41: 1-92.
 * Taylor R. W., and D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. Zoological Catalogue of Australia 2: 1-149.