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
Pseudoneoponera
Donisthorpe, 1943a
Taxonomy.
The genus
Pseudoneoponera
was synonymized with
Bothroponera
by
Wilson (1958)
and
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
Pseudoneoponera
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 densly covered with short standing hairs; head and mesosoma coarsely sculptured, and abdominal tergite III strongly striate longitudinally; head in full-face view subrectangular; preoccipital carina conspicuous dorsally and laterally; frontal lobes horizontal, separated from each other just with a longitudinal sulcus; antennal scrobe absent; median portion of clypeus with a steep anterior face, with a pair of median carinae; anteromedian margin of clypeus convex, sometimes with an indistinct median point; mandible subtriangular, with ca. 8–10 teeth on masticatory margin (teeth often worn away); basal portion of mandible without a circular or near-circular pit or fovea dorsolaterally; antenna 12-segmented, gradually incrassate from segment III to XII; eye moderate in size, located before midlength of side of head in lateral view; mesosoma in lateral view straight or with a weakly convex dorsal outline; promesonotal suture completely separating pronotum from mesonotum; metanotal groove inconspisuous or absent; mesopleuron separated well from mesonotum and metapleuron with distinct sutures, sometimes divided by an inconspicuous transverse groove; propodeum unarmed; orifice of propodeal spiracle slit-like; 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 in lateral view high and thick, in dorsal view semicircular; its posterodorsal margin with a row of small denticles;subpetiolar process developed, with anteroventral and posteroventral angles; girdling constriction between abdominal segments III and IV distinct; abdominal sternite III usually with a distinct anteroventral flange beneath helcium; sting well developed.
Differentiation.
The worker of
Pseudoneoponera
most closely resembles
Bothroponera
, and to a lesser extent
Ectomomyrmex
, but in the latter two genera the posterodorsal margin of petiolar node lacks a row of small denticles, and the abdominal tergite III is not striate longitudinally.
Vietnamese species (2 spp.).
P. insularis
(Emery, 1889)
. Zry (Cat Tien).
P. rufipes
(
Jerdon, 1851
)
. Au (Ba Be, Chua Yen Tu, Pu Mat, Sa Pa, Van Ban), Rad (Cuc Phuong, nr. Ha Noi, Hoa Binh).
Bionomics.
Pseudoneoponera rufipes
usually occurs in wooded habitats.