Odontomachus rixosus

Sorger, D. M. & Zettel, H., 2011, On the ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of the Philippine Islands: V. The genus Odontomachus Latreille, 1804., Myrmecological News 14, pp. 141-163 : 157

Odontomachus rixosus species group

Diagnosis: Palp formula: 4, 4. Subapical teeth of mandibles short and truncate ( O. latidens , O. monticola ) or only slightly truncate and long ( O. rixosus ). Posterior portion of head tends to be fairly broad. Petiolar node tending to height reduction.

Diversity and distribution: Brown (1976) includes three species: Odontomachus latidens Mayr, 1867 , O. monticola Emery, 1892 , and O. rixosus Smith, 1857 . The group comprises those Oriental species with truncate subapical teeth of the mandibles, except O. simillimus , which belongs to the O. haematodus group (with palp formula 4, 3). Odontomachus monticola is distributed from northeastern India to southern China and Vietnam; O. latidens from Peninsular Malaysia to Borneo, Sumatra and Java; and O. rixosus from southeast Asia to Java, Borneo, and the southern Philippines (Brown 1976, and this study). Odontomachus monticola is strongly varying (see Brown 1976: pp. 157-159), but some of its synonyms are probably valid species.

In its present concept, the O. rixosus group is almost complementary biogeographically to the O. infandus group, with one exception: an overlap on the island of Mindanao.