Neoponera, Emery, 1901

Pazmiño-Palomino, Alex & Troya, Adrian, 2022, Ants of Ecuador: new species records for a megadiverse country in South America, Revista Brasileira de Entomologia (e 20210089) 66 (2), pp. 1-15 : 9

Neoponera moesta (Mayr, 1870)

Figs. 17 , 21E

Material examined. Ecuador. Esmeraldas: Reserva Ecológica Cotacachi Cayapas , 0.69611°N, 78.9108°W, 37m, 1♀, 2☿, 2001-04-01, Araujo, P. et al., fogging ( MEPN) ; same information, except: 0.845264°N, 78.7447°W, 120m, 1♀, 2☿, ( MEPN) ; Orellana: Parque Nacional Yasuní, 32 Km SSE Limoncocha , Km 39 Pompeya sur, 0.65713°S, 76.453°W, 216m, 3♀, 5☿, 1995-02-08, Erwin, T. et al., fogging ( MEPN) ; same information, except: 4☿, 1995-02-11, ( MEPN) ; 3☿, 1995-02-10, ( MEPN) ; Pastaza: Parque Nacional Yasuní , 151 Km SE Limoncocha, 1.61°S, 75.9692°W, 172m, 1☿, 2014-01-13, Chasiliquín, N. & Villacrés, E., Winkler, ( MEPN) .

Comments. According to Mackay and Mackay (2010) this species belongs to theN. crenata group. This is a hard-to-identify species due to its strong morphological resemblance to its closest lineages N. crenata Roger and N. globularia Mackay & Mackay. Even the types (images available on AntWeb) require further revision.The workers and queens of N. moesta mainly differ from those of N. crenata in the distance from the anterior margin of eye to the anterolateral head corner (at the mandibular articulation) which is greater than half eye maximum length (shorter in N. crenata). Neoponera moesta is distinguishable from N. globularia mainly by its petiolar node, which is sub-triangular dorsally, while that of N.globularia is mostly rounded dorsally.This arboreal species is fairly common in well preserved to semi-disturbed habitats of lowland and pre-mountainous wet habitats of Amazonia and the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, though it has been collected also in deciduous habitats of Central America. Despite being relatively common in field samples virtually nothing is known about its natural history, but see Mackay and Mackay (2010), andLongino (2002). This species is widely distributed throughout Central and South America ( Mackay & Mackay 2010).

Figures

Figure 17 Neoponera moesta (Mayr) (worker,MEPN 34660):A) profile,B) frontal view, C) dorsal view. Images by Adrian Troya.Scale bars = 1 mm.

Figure 21 Geographic distribution of the species examined in the present study.