Dolichoderus kathae, Shattuck, Steven O. & Marsden, Sharon, 2013

Shattuck, Steven O. & Marsden, Sharon, 2013, Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 3716 (2), pp. 101-143 : 124-125

Dolichoderus kathae sp. n.

( Fig. 15 )

Types. Holotype worker and 1 paratype worker from Mambray Creek Camp Ground, Mt. Remarkable National Park, 32°49'48"S 138°01'48"E, 30 March 1992, S.O. Shattuck (ANIC, holotype ANIC32-063770, paratype ANIC32-066583).

Diagnosis. Sculpturing on head minimal, either essentially absent or consisting of very fine reticulations; head yellowish-red in colour; pronotum and propodeum lacking spines; dorsum of pronotum finely reticulate, the surfaces matte; dorsum of propodeum evenly convex, the angle at approximately the same level as the metanotal groove; posterior face of propodeum weakly concave, separated from the dorsal face by at most a weakly defined angle.

Dolichoderus kathae is similar to D. rutilus but differs in having the head and dorsum of the pronotum finely reticulate and matte while these areas are smooth and shiny in D. rutilus . It is also similar to D. parvus , differing primarily in the shape of the propodeum. In D. kathae (and D. rutilus ), the angle of the propodeum is relatively high, the dorsal surface being uniformly convex. In D. parvus the angle is relatively low as the dorsal surface drops posteriorly relative to the metanotal groove, giving the surface an asymmetrical appearance.

Worker description. See Fig. 15 . Sculpturing on the katepisternum (pleuron of the mesothorax) varying from smooth to longitudinally striate, but otherwise all specimens similar to that figured.

Measurements (n=5). CI 84–89; EI 34–36; EL 0.30–0.32; HL 1.01–1.07; HW 0.86–0.92; ML 1.39–1.51; MTL 0.74–0.79; PronI 61.72–64.91; PronW 0.53–0.59; SI 111–116; SL 1.00–1.03.

Material examined. Northern Territory: Moolawatana (Donnellan,S.) (SAMA); South Australia: 5km E Gibraltar Rocks, N Tarcoola (Greenslade,P.J.M.) (ANIC); Olympic Dam (Matthews,E.G. & Watts,C.) (ANIC). Comments. Dolichoderus kathae has been collected from Callitris woodlands. It is known from a limited number of collections across semi-arid South Australia.

Figures

FIGURE 15. Dolichoderus kathae, holotype worker (ANIC 32 - 063770). A. Front of head; B. Side of body; C. Top of body; D. Distribution of material examined (coordinates of specimen from Northern Territory not available).