Ants of the genus Lordomyrma Emery (1) Generic synonymy, composition and distribution, with notes on Ancyridris Wheeler and Cyphoidris Weber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae)
Author
Taylor, Robert W.
text
Zootaxa
2009
1979
16
28
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.274639
36e92c77-043b-4958-a2e9-bcb8ecb1dee4
1175-5326
274639
Australian
Lordomyrma
species
There are at least 4 or 5 known mainland eastern Australian species represented in the ANIC and confidently referable to
Lordomyrma
.
L. punctiventris
(
Figs 3, 4
), alone is named. The similar
L. leae
is known only from Lord Howe
Island
.
Interspecific morphological diversity is low among Australian
Lordomyrma
species, as in the Asian species, which they generally resemble (compare
Figs 1, 2
with
Figs 3, 4
- undescribed Asian and Australian species are even more alike than these). They likewise relate to bridging elements of the New Guinean fauna, including
L. cryptocera
(Figs 5, 6), sufficiently to confirm their long-recognized congeneric affinity with
L. furcifera
, and assignment to
Lordomyrma
. The palpal formula in four investigated species is 3:3.
The mainland Australian species are deployed along the continental east coast and Great Dividing Range, in rain forest or wet sclerophyll habitats, from Iron Range (12o S lat.) in the north, to central New South
Wales
(
Shattuck, 1999, fig 502
). Few sympatric associations are represented. The known Iron Range species has affinities with others from New
Guinea
(it is for example the only Australian species lacking antennal scrobes, structures absent in several New Guinean and some New Caledonian species). The more southern Australian taxa, with
L. leae
, constitute a close-knit species group, that of
L. punctiventris
. An undescribed species similar to
L. punctiventris
was illustrated by
Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990
: 110.