Tyrannomyrmex

Last updated

Tyrannomyrmex
Tyrannomyrmex dux casent0178233 profile 1.jpg
T. dux holotype worker from India [1]
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Clade: Euarthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Myrmicinae
Tribe: Solenopsidini
Genus: Tyrannomyrmex
Fernández, 2003
Type species
Tyrannomyrmex rex [2]
Fernández, 2003
Diversity [3]
4 species

Tyrannomyrmex is a rare tropical genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Three similar species, only known from workers, are recognized and share small eyes and edentate mandibles.

A genus is is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, as well as viruses, in biology. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus.

Ant family of insects

Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the Cretaceous period, about 140 million years ago, and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. More than 12,500 of an estimated total of 22,000 species have been classified. They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and the distinctive node-like structure that forms their slender waists.

In biological classification, a subfamily is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoological names with "-inae".

Contents

Species

Two of the species are known only from single worker specimens, but a single male specimen collected in 1965 possibly represents the male of an otherwise unknown species, and T. alii is known from a series of over 35 gynes and workers. [4] So far, all species of Tyrannomyrmex occur in tropical Old World forests. The wide distribution range from India and Sri Lanka in the west to peninsular Malaysia and perhaps the Philippine archipelago in the east suggests that more species may be discovered. [5]

Old World Collectively Africa, Europe, and Asia

The term "Old World" is used commonly in the West to refer to Africa, Asia and Europe, regarded collectively as the part of the world known to its population before contact with the Americas and Oceania. It is used in the context of, and contrasts with, the New World.

Peninsular Malaysia mainland, western portion of the nation-state of Malaysia in South East Asia

Peninsular Malaysia, also known as Malaya or West Malaysia, is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula and surrounding islands. Its area is 132,265 square kilometres (51,068 sq mi), which is nearly 40% of the total area of the country - 330,611 square kilometres (127,650 sq mi) - or slightly smaller than England and Java island. It shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore.

<i>Tyrannomyrmex alii</i>

Tyrannomyrmex alii is a species of tropical ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae. T. alii is native to the Western Ghats in India. The species was described from workers and a winged queen, the first Tyrannomyrmex species in which a queen has been described, while the males are not known. Three additional species are also known, with one also being native to the Western Ghats.

Western Ghats mountain range running parallel to the western coast of India

Western Ghats also known as Sahyadri is a mountain range that covers an area of 140,000 km² in a stretch of 1,600 km parallel to the western coast of the Indian peninsula, traverse the States of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is one of the eight "hottest hot-spots" of biological diversity in the world. It is sometimes called the Great Escarpment of India. It is a biodiversity hotspot that contains a large proportion of the country's flora and fauna; many of which are only found in India and nowhere else in the world. According to UNESCO, Western Ghats are older than Himalayan mountains. It also influences Indian monsoon weather patterns by intercepting the rain-laden monsoon winds that sweep in from the south-west during late summer. The range runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain, called Konkan, along the Arabian Sea. A total of thirty-nine areas including national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserve forests were designated as world heritage sites - twenty in Kerala, ten in Karnataka, five in Tamil Nadu and four in Maharashtra.

India Country in South Asia

India, also known as the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area and with more than 1.3 billion people, it is the second most populous country as well as the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

For the first time in a decade, in 2016, the extremely rare ant was seen alive, living in the dirt of Singapore's Mandai area, according to a report by National Geographic.

Taxonomy

Holotype of a T. rex Tyrannomyrmex rex CASENT0901021 profile.jpg
Holotype of a T. rex

In 2003, Fernández described a new genus and species, Tyrannomyrmex rex , from peninsular Malaysia based on a single specimen collected from leaf litter at Negri Sembilan, Pasoh Forest Reserve in 1994. [9] Fernández was unable to place the new genus in any existing myrmicine tribe although several potential candidates were considered including the Adelomyrmecini and Solenopsidini. Without additional specimens or molecular data this genus was temporarily placed as incertae sedis within the subfamily Myrmicinae. [10] A second species, T. dux , was described by Borowiec (2007) based on a single specimen collected from leaf litter in southern India in 1999. [6] A single worker of a third species, T. legatus , described Alpert (2013) was collected in 2006 from leaf litter in a lowland dipterocarp undisturbed forest in southern Sri Lanka. This species is generally similar to the two previously described species of Tyrannomyrmex. [11]

The Pasoh Forest Reserve, a nature reserve located about 8 km from Simpang Pertang, Malaysia and around 70 km southeast of Kuala Lumpur. It has a total area of 2450 hectares, with a core area of 600 ha surrounded by a buffer zone. Palm oil plantations surround the reserve on three sides while the other side adjoins a selectively logged dipterocarp forest. An average of 2 metres of rain fall each year, ranging from 1728 to 3112 mm. In 1987 a 50 hectare forest dynamics plot was established in the reserve, which began as a collaboration between the Forest Research Institute Malaysia, the Center for Tropical Forest Science, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Three censuses of the tree population in the plot have been carried out, the first in 1989, and have counted about 340 000 trees belonging to 800 species in that plot. The reserve has largely been destroyed by loggers and miners.

<i>Incertae sedis</i> indicates uncertainty on taxonomic position

Incertae sedis or problematica are terms used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertainty at specific taxonomic levels is indicated by incertae familiae, incerti subordinis, incerti ordinis and similar terms.

Tyrannomyrmex legatus is a tropical Old World species of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It is only known from a single worker from Sri Lanka. Gynes and males are unknown.

Fernández (2003) provisionally concluded that Tyrannomyrmex is a distinct and isolated myrmicine genus with possible affinities to either the Adelomyrmex -genus group or the tribe Solenopsidini. [12] Alpert (2013), based on Bolton's (2003) lists of character states for all ant genera, placed the genus within Solenopsidini and close to the genus Monomorium . [13]

<i>Adelomyrmex</i> genus of insects

Adelomyrmex is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Species of Adelomyrmex are small, litter-inhabiting ants most often collected in Berlese and Winkler samples. Although the genus and its relatives have a pantropical distribution, Central American cloud forests are the only places where they are abundant and diverse.

<i>Monomorium</i> genus of insects

Monomorium is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. As of 2013 it contains about 396 species. It is distributed around the world, with many species native to the Old World tropics. It is considered to be "one of the more important groups of ants," considering its widespread distribution, its diversity, and its variety of morphological and biological characteristics. It also includes several familiar pest species, such as the pharaoh ant and the flower ant.

holotype of T. legatus Tyrannomyrmex legatus CASENT0106177 profile.jpg
holotype of T. legatus

Description

All species have small eyes reduced to a few ommatidia, an 11-segmented antenna with an ill-defined 3-segmented club, papal formula 2-2, and a masticatory border largely edentate with two apical teeth. The small eyes, edentate mandibles, and close similarity among the workers of all three Tyrannomyrmex species strongly suggest that they may also be similar ecologically, and that they are probably subterranean and predaceous. While the three known worker specimens have been taken in leaf litter samples, the rarity of collections suggests that Tyrannomyrmex species may both nest and forage in the deeper soil horizons, and that foragers may only occasionally enter the leaf litter layers closer to the surface. [5]

Antenna (biology) appendages used for sensing in arthropods

Antennae, sometimes referred to as "feelers", are paired appendages used for sensing in arthropods.

Mandible (insect mouthpart)

Insect mandibles are a pair of appendages near the insect’s mouth, and the most anterior of the three pairs of oral appendages. Their function is typically to grasp, crush, or cut the insect’s food, or to defend against predators or rivals. Insect mandibles, which appear to be evolutionarily derived from legs, move in the horizontal plane unlike those of vertebrates, which appear to be derived from gill arches and move vertically.

Morphological characters

holotype of T. alii Tyrannomyrmex alii NCBS-AV849 left profile.jpg
holotype of T. alii

Alpert (2013) summarized the morphological characters for the genus as follows: [5]

Related Research Articles

<i>Stereomyrmex</i> genus of insects

Stereomyrmex is a genus of myrmicine ants. Two of the described species are known from only a single worker, making this one of the rarest groups of ants in the world.

<i>Diaphoromyrma</i> species of insect

Diaphoromyrma is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. It contains the single species Diaphoromyrma sofiae, known only from workers from the type locality in Bahia, Brazil. The genus is apparently close to Allomerus and Diplomorium in the Solenopsidini, but its tribal attribution remains uncertain.

Agroecomyrmecinae subfamily of insects

Agroecomyrmecinae is a subfamily of ants containing two extant and two fossil genera. The subfamily was originally classified in 1930 by Carpenter as Agroecomyrmecini, a Myrmicinae tribe. Bolton raised the tribe to subfamily status in 2003, suggesting that Agroecomyrmecinae might be the sister taxon to Myrmicinae. It has since been discovered to be one of the earliest lineages of ants, a clade from the basal polytomy for all ants. In 2014, the subfamily was expanded to two tribes. The tribe Ankylomyrmini was moved from the subfamily Myrmicinae to Agroemyrmecinae.

<i>Tatuidris</i> species of insect

Tatuidris, or armadillo ant, is a rare genus of ants consisting of a single species, Tatuidris tatusia. The ants are small in size and inhabit the leaf litter of Neotropical forests in Central and South America, from Mexico to Brazil. Workers are ferruginous-colored to dark red and present a distinctive morphology, consisting of a shield-like head with a broad vertex, ventrally-turned heavy mandibles which do not overlap at full closure, and unique among ants – an antenna socket apparatus sitting upside-down. Little is known about the biology of the ants, but they are likely nocturnal and specialist predators.

<i>Baracidris</i> genus of insects

Baracidris is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The genus is known from central and western Africa.

<i>Ochetomyrmex</i> genus of insects

Ochetomyrmex is a Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae.

<i>Lachnomyrmex</i> genus of insects

Lachnomyrmex is a Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The genus consists of 16 species restricted to the Neotropics, known from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. They are most often found in the leaf litter of wet forests, with nests located on the ground. Workers forage alone, apparently without recruiting nestmates or using pheromones. Within the tribe Stenammini, they seem to be most closely related to the genera Lordomyrma of Indo-Australia and Cyphoidris of Africa.

<i>Rostromyrmex</i> genus of insects

Rostromyrmex is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae containing the single species Rostromyrmex pasohensis. The genus is known from Peninsular Malaysia, where the ants live in the leaf litter with colonies located in rotten wood on the forest floor. Colonies are small and likely monogyne.

<i>Tetheamyrma</i> genus of insects

Tetheamyrma is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae containing the single species Tetheamyrma subspongia. The genus is known only from two workers collected in a leaf litter sample in eastern Malaysia.

<i>Tropidomyrmex</i> species of insect

Tropidomyrmex is a Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The genus contains the single species Tropidomyrmex elianae, known from Brazil.

<i>Tranopelta</i> genus of insects

Tranopelta is a Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae.

<i>Lenomyrmex</i> genus of insects

Lenomyrmex is a Neotropical genus of ant in the subfamily Myrmicinae.

Ishakidris is a genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae containing the single species Ishakidris ascitaspis. The genus is known only from a single worker collected in 1978 from the leaf litter in the Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.

<i>Boloponera</i> genus of insects

Boloponera is a genus of small ants in the subfamily Ponerinae. The genus contains the single species Boloponera vicans, known from a single worker specimen collected in leaf litter in the Central African Republic. It is sometimes referred to as Bry's Ant after its discoverer, Brian Fisher.

Pheidole ragnax is a species of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae.

Megalomyrmex wallacei is a Neotropical species of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. Megalomyrmex wallacei can be found in Brazil, Guyana, Colombia, Costa Rica. This species occurs in mature wet forest, usually low-elevation rainforest. Brandão (2003) reports the species nesting under leaves on the forest floor, in colonies of up to 300 workers.

<i>Megalomyrmex incisus</i> species of insect

Megalomyrmex incisus is a Neotropical species of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The species is known from southern Mexico south to central Brazil and Peru.

Kempfidris is a Neotropical genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae containing the single species Kempfidris inusualis. Known from Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, the species was originally described as Monomorium inusuale in 2007, but was reclassified as the type species for the new genus Kempfidris in 2014. The species is only known from workers and almost nothing is known about their natural history.

References

  1. ↑ "Specimen: CASENT0178233 Tyrannomyrmex dux". antweb.org. AntWeb . Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "Genus: Tyrannomyrmex". antweb.org. AntWeb . Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Bolton, B. (2017). "Tyrannomyrmex". AntCat. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  4. 1 2 Sadasivan, K.; Kripakaran, M. (2017). "A new species of Tyrannomyrmex Fernández 2003 (Formicidae, Myrmicinae, Solenopsidini) from Western Ghats, Kerala, India". Zootaxa. 4344 (2): 261–276. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4344.2.3.
  5. 1 2 3 Alpert 2013, p. 289
  6. 1 2 Borowiec 2007, p. 65
  7. ↑ Alpert 2013, p. 287
  8. ↑ Fernández 2003, p. 5
  9. ↑ Fernández 2003, p. 4
  10. ↑ Fernández 2003, pp. 5–6
  11. ↑ Alpert 2013, p. 286
  12. ↑ Fernández 2003, p. 6
  13. ↑ Alpert 2013, p. 290
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.