Australasian ants of the subfamily Heteroponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): (2) the species-group of Heteroponera relicta (Wheeler),with descriptions of nine new species and observations on morphology, biogeography and phylogeny of the genus

Robert W Taylor

doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3947.2.1

Australasian ants of the subfamily Heteroponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): (2) the species-group of Heteroponera relicta (Wheeler),with descriptions of nine new species and observations on morphology, biogeography and phylogeny of the genus

Zootaxa. 2015 Apr 15;3947(2):151-80. doi: 10.11646/zootaxa.3947.2.1.

Author

Robert W Taylor¹

Affiliation

¹ Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia Honorary Fellow, National Research Collections Australia, CSIRO, Canberra.; Email: bob.taylor@homemail.com.au.

PMID: 25947727
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3947.2.1

Abstract

Workers and available gynes of Heteroponera relicta and nine new related morphospecies from northeast Queensland tropical rainforest are described in two species complexes: H. relicta (Wheeler), H. darlingtonorum, H. lioprocta, H. monteithi, H. rhodopygea, H. viviennae and H. wilsoni spp. n. (Heteroponera relicta complex); H. ecarinata, H. pendergrasti and H. trachypyx spp. n. (Heteroponera ecarinata complex). Known gynes (of 3 relicta-complex species) are flightless physogastric ergatoids. Biogeography and evolution of the group and of Heteroponera at large are reviewed.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Ants / anatomy & histology
Ants / classification*
Female
Phylogeny
Queensland
Species Specificity