Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part II — Cerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae Author Eguchi, Katsuyuki Author Viet, Bui Tuan Author Yamane, Seiki text Zootaxa 2014 3860 1 1 46 journal article 10.11646/zootaxa.3860.1.1 ceb30f74-c770-4952-859a-9d3a84a5e087 1175-5326 287059 FDFD1014-8DDA-4EED-A385-95FA4F964CFC Mesoponera Emery, 1900b Taxonomy. Mesoponera was first established as a subgenus of Euponera , and raised to genus by Bingham (1903) . It was then synonymized with Pachycondyla by Brown in Bolton (1994) , and assigned to the tribe Ponerini ( Bolton 2003 ) . However, based on a recent molecular phylogenetic analysis ( Schmidt 2013 ), Schmidt & Shattuck (2014) revived Mesoponera as an independent genus, and placed it under the Odontomachus genus group of the tribe Ponerini . Morphology. Workers of Vietnamese species have the following features (see also Schmidt & Shattuck 2014 ): Worker monomorphic; body covered with a dense fine pubescence, and sparsely with standing hairs; head in full-face view subrectangular; preoccipital carina very fine dorsally; frontal lobes horizontal, small and narrow, separated from each other just with a longitudinal sulcus; antennal socket in full-face view only partly concealed by frontal lobe; antennal scrobe absent; median portion of clypeus with a median longitudinal ridge; anteromedian margin of clypeus convex and with a blunt median point; mandible elongate-triangular, very long, with ca. 15 teeth on masticatory margin; basal portion of mandible without a pit dorsolaterally; antenna 12-segmented, gradually incrassate from segment III to XII; eye moderate in size, located on side of head relatively close to mandibular insertion; promesonotum in lateral view with a continuous round dorsal outline; promesonotal suture completely separating pronotum from mesonotum; metanotal groove deep; mesonotum present as a distinct disc well margined anteriorly by promesonotal suture and posteriorly metanotal groove; mesopleuron separated well from mesonotum and metapleuron with distinct sutures, not divided by a transverse groove; propodeum unarmed; orifice of propodeal spiracle round and small; propodeal lobe almost absent; apicoventral part of foretibia usually with a small simple spur behind a large pectinate spur; apicoventral part of mid and hind tibiae with a simple spur in front of a large pectinate spur; outer surface of middle tibia with normal pilosity only; petiole without anterior peduncle; petiolar node squamiform, in lateral view high; subpetiolar process elongate rectangular; girdling constriction between abdominal segments III and IV relatively weak; abdominal sternite III with a distinct anteroventral flange beneath helcium; sting well developed. Differentiation. The worker of Mesoponera is somewhat similar to that of Brachyponera , but in the latter the basal portion of mandible has a pit or groove dorsolaterally (but the pit/groove is sometimes obsolete), mandible is not elongate, and prora is reduced and notexternally visible. Vietnamese species (2 spp.). M. melanaria ( Emery, 1893 ) . Zry (Cat Tien). M. s p. eg-1 [cf. M. papuana (Viehmeyer, 1914) ] (Phu Quoc, Van Ban). Bionomics. Mesoponera sp. eg-1 occurs in well-developed forests, and nest in rotting logs and wood fragments.