Gauromyrmex

Bolton (2003 p 269) states there are a number of undescribed species in the British Museum. Also: “all known species are arboreal and are size variable to weakly polymorphic.”

Identification
Small workers, brown with darker gaster. Similar to Vollenhovia but with 11-segmented antennae and a bidentate propodeum. Vollenhovia possess a 12-segmented antennae and an unarmed, or at most just slightly toothed, propodeum.

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



Nomenclature

 *  GAUROMYRMEX [Myrmicinae: Formicoxenini]
 * Gauromyrmex Menozzi, 1933c: 146. Type-species: Gauromyrmex bengakalisi, by monotypy.
 * Gauromyrmex senior synonym of Acalama, Solenomyrma: Brown, 1953c: 10.
 * Gauromyrmex junior synonym of Vollenhovia: Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 16; Bolton, 1994: 105.
 * Gauromyrmex revived from synonymy: Bolton, 2003: 246, 269.
 * ACALAMA [junior synonym of Gauromyrmex]
 * Acalama Smith, M.R. 1949a: 206. Type-species: Acalama donisthorpei (junior synonym of Solenomyrma acanthina), by original designation.
 * Acalama junior synonym of Gauromyrmex: Brown, 1953c: 10.
 * SOLENOMYRMA [junior synonym of Gauromyrmex]
 * Solenomyrma Karavaiev, 1935a: 103. Type-species: Solenomyrma acanthina, by monotypy.
 * Solenomyrma junior synonym of Gauromyrmex: Brown, 1953c: 10.

Worker
Smith (1949), as Acalama - Small, apparently monomorphic. Head (including mandibles) subcordate, with rounded posterior corners and not very deep, but distinctly emarginate posterior border. Antenna ll-segmented; with a prominent 3-segmented club, the latter much longer than the remainder of the funiculus; scape short, curved basally, enlarged apically, failing by one-fourth to one-third its length from reaching the posterior border of the head. Frontal carinre short, well-separated, indistinctly or not lobed, concealing antennal insertions. Frontal area indistinct or absent. Clypeus, in profile, flattened, median region extended as a short lobe, the anterior border of which is straight or indistinctly emarginate. Eye well-developed, placed nearer the anterior than the posterior border of the head, with at least 7-9 ommatidia in its greatest length. Mandible of ordinary shape, the masticatory border with 2 large apical and 3 or 4 smaller basal teeth.

Thorax, in profile, flattened or weakly convex. Pronotum with a distinct humeral tooth. Promesonotal suture obsolescent. Mesoepinotum with a remarkably deep constriction. Epinotal spines unusually short, upwardly directed. Legs rather short, with greatly enlarged femora and tibiae; tibial spur of anterior leg well-developed, those of the middle and posterior legs vestigial or lacking. Petiole non-pedunculate; anterior and posterior faces of the node declivous, the two surfaces meeting to form a sharp, transverse carina which is distinctly emarginate; ventral surface of petiole with a tooth. Post-petiole slightly broader than long, also broader than the petiole. Gaster truncate basally, with distinct humeral angles.