Syscia typhla Roger, 1861

Du, Congcong, Xu, Zhenghui & Chen, Zhilin, 2024, Taxonomic account of the ant genus Syscia Roger, 1816 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) from Asia, with descriptions of two new species from China, European Journal of Taxonomy 930, pp. 157-181 : 175

Syscia typhla Roger, 1861

Fig. 9

Syscia typhla Roger, 1861: 20 (w.). Sri Lanka.

Cerapachys typhla – Emery 1902: 24.

Cerapachys typhlus – Xu 1998: 119. — Xu et al. 1999: 382. — Gu et al. 2019: 147, misidentification.

Syscia typhla – Borowiec 2016: 224.

Diagnosis

Workers have 9-segmented antennae. Head in full-face view subrectangular, distinctly longer than broad, lateral margins slightly convex, posterior margin also slightly convex. Mesosoma in dorsal view rather elongate, long-ellipsoidal, with lateral sides and anterior margin obviously convex in dorsal view; in lateral view, dorsal outline convex; propodeal declivity feebly concave, encircled with, distinct thin rim. Petiole in dorsal view subtrapezoid in dorsal view, anterior margin shorter than posterior margin; in lateral view (excluding sternite) subquadrate, almost as long as high, lateral margins convex; subpetiolar process in lateral view subtriangle, with ventral corner clypeiform, ventral outline strongly concave. Postpetiole in lateral view subrectangular, shorter than high, with ventral outline slightly concave; sternite anteroventrally produced as blunt angle directed downward and forward.

Type material

Unexamined. But the type worker of S. typhla was examined in the online database of the AntWeb (https://www.antweb.org/; FOCOL0804 , imaged by Christiana Klingenberg).

Distribution

Japan (doubtful), West Bengal, Sri Lanka.

Remarks

Based on a reexamination the specimens which were reported from Yunnan of China by Xu (1998) and Xu et al. (1999), we found that those specimens were misidentified as Cerapachys typhlus , but Ooceraea biroi (Forel, 1907) . In addition, Gu et al. (2019) reported that the species Cerapachys typhlus was also distributed in Guangxi of China, which was a misidentification of S. zhoui sp. nov. Therefore, the species S. typhla is excluded from the ant fauna of China.

Figures

Fig. 9. Syscia typhla Roger, 1861, holotype, worker (FOCOL0804) A. Head in full-face view. B. Label. C. Body in dorsal view. D. Body in lateral view (images cited from https://www.antweb.org; imaged by Christiana Klingenberg).