| Xiphopelta | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Xiphopelta elisae worker specimen from AntWeb | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Ponerinae |
| Tribe: | Ponerini |
| Alliance: | Odontomachus genus group |
| Genus: | Xiphopelta Forel, 1913 |
| Type species | |
| Ponera arnoldi, now Xiphopelta elisae rotundi Forel, 1913 | |
| Diversity [1] | |
| 11 species | |
Xiphopelta is a genus of ponerine ants containing 11 species found in the Afrotropics. Described as a subgenus in 1913, synonymized in 1973, and revalidated to full generic status by Fisher et al. in 2025, its species were previously placed in the genus Mesoponera by Schmidt & Shattuck in 2014. Its scientific name means "sword-shielded ant" from ancient Greek xíphos + péltā. [2]
