Nylanderia of the World Part III: Nylanderia in the West Indies
Author
Kallal, Robert J.
text
Zootaxa
2019
2019-08-23
4658
3
401
451
journal article
25929
10.11646/zootaxa.4658.3.1
70ec409b-10b2-459d-bd98-e3e45b41f3a9
1175-5326
3375930
140EC233-D961-4705-AAF6-A6874C2B52E9
Nylanderia metacista
,
sp. nov.
Figs. 43–45
(worker); 46–51 (male)
Holotype
worker,
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
:
Cachote Forest
,
18° 04.01’N
,
71° 10.768’W
, elev.
1054 m
, cloud forest, nest under bark of rotting, fallen tree,
28.vii.2009
,
J.S. LaPolla
&
S.A. Schneider
(
USNM00754797
) (
NMNH
).
3 paratype workers
,
1 paratype male
with same locality data as
holotype
(specimens are from the same nest as
holotype
) (
NMNH
&
MCZC
).
Worker diagnosis:
Brown head, mesosoma, and gaster contrasting with yellow legs and antennae; gastral tergites I & II with a dense layer of pubescence.
Compare with:
N. bibadia
,
N. pini
,
N. fuscaspecula
WORKER.
Measurements (n=7)
: TL: 2.50–2.80; HW: 0.53–0.59; HL: 0.64–0.68; EL: 0.17–0.19; SL: 0.74– 0.78; WL: 0.80–0.89; GL: 0.90–1.30. SMC: 18–25; PMC: 3–6; MMC: 2.
Indices:
CI: 83–88; REL: 25–28; SI: 132–142; SI2: 22–24.
Head
: sides of head in full face view nearly parallel; posterolateral corners rounded; posterior margin straight, occasionally very slight emarginated medially; anterior clypeal margin emarginate; ocelli absent; eye well-developed.
Mesosoma
: in lateral view, pronotum convex; anterior margin of mesonotum raised slightly above posterior pronotal margin; metanotal area without short flat area before spiracle; dorsal face of propodeum slightly convex; dorsal face of propodeum and mesonotum approximately the same height in lateral view.
Color and pilosity
: body brown; mandible, scape, legs, mesocoxa and metacoxa lighter brown; cephalic pubescence sparse; pronotum, mesonotum, anterior portion of propodeum with sparse pubescence; gastral tergites I & II with dense pubescence dorsally.
FIGURES 43–45.
Nylanderia metacista
worker USNMENT00921158. Lateral, full-face, and dorsal view of the body.
QUEEN.
Measurements (n=1)
: TL: 4.80; HW: 0.86; HL: 0.87; EL: 0.3; SL: 0.92; WL: 1.6; GL: 2.3. SMC: 8; PMC: 5; MMC: 27.
Indices:
CI: 98; REL: 34; SI: 107. Generally, as in worker with modifications expected for caste and with the following noted difference: lighter brown (to yellow) than seen in workers.
MALE.
Measurement (n=1)
: TL: 2.40; HW: 0.53; HL: 0.56; EL: 0.23; SL: 0.85; WL: 0.85; GL: 1.00. SMC: 4; PMC: 0; MMC: 8. Indices: CI: 94; REL: 41; SI: 161.
Head
: sides of head in full face view nearly parallel becoming distinctly broader posterior to eyes; clypeus evenly rounded anteriorly; mandible with distinct apical tooth and much smaller subapical tooth adjacent to apical tooth; basal angle rounded and indistinct.
Mesosoma
: in lateral view, dorsal margin of mesoscutum same as height as dorsal margin of mesoscutellum; propodeum steeply sloping without distinct dorsal and declivitous faces.
Genitalia
: gonopod apex coming to triangular point in lateral view; in dorsal view, gonopod margin curves away from penial sclerite; digitus with pointed apex that bends away from penial sclerite; cuspis tubular, rounded at apex bending sharply towards digitus; anteroventral process of penial sclerite comes to a point with ventral margin of process emarginate; valvura of penial sclerite placed ventral to midline (fig. 105).
Color and pilosity
: yellow to light brown; head darker than remainder of body; head, scapes, mesosomal notum, legs and gastral dorsum with a layer of short pubescence; fine, wispy, silvery pubescence between the ocelli and the compound eyes.
Other material examined:
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
:
Pedernales
Pr., Sierra de
Bahoruco
NP,
18.14764
- 71.162321
+/-
70 m
,
1320 m
,
III-2014
, Lubertazzi, DL 03720-001;
Pedernales
Pr., Sierra de
Bahoruco
NP,
18.15016
-71.62487
+/-
110 m
,
1290 m
,
III-2014
, Lubertazzi, DL03741:003;
Pedernales
,
Jaragua National Park
,
18.07332
-71.65203
+/-
120 m
,
400 m
,
27-III-2014
.
FIGURES 46–51.
Nylanderia metacista
male USNMENT00754794. Full-face and lateral of the body; SEM images of external genitalia: ventral, close-up vollsellar lobes, dorsal, and lateral.
Etymology:
Species epithet is a combination of
cista
(L. = box) with the prefix
meta-
(L. = end), named for thickened tips of the penial sclerites found in this species.
Notes:
Workers of this species can usually be separated from
N. fuscaspecula
and
N. pini
based on the presence of dense pubescence of the first gastral tergite. Males of
N. metacista
males have a fine, wispy, silvery pubescence between the ocelli and the compound eyes. In contrast,
N. pini
has short, thick, dark brown pubescence and some pubescence free areas between the ocelli and the compound eyes. Separating
N. metacista
from
N. bibadia
can generally be done with color:
N. metacista
has lighter brown workers, with distinct yellow antennae and legs, which contrasts against the darker workers of
N. bibadia
. However, color is not always reliable and can be difficult to qualitatively assess.
Nylanderia metacista
is overall smaller than
N. bibadia
(especially with regards to head length and width).
Male morphology provides some further characters for separating the two species. Males of
N. metacista
are brownish-yellow whereas
N. bibadia
are dark brown. Additionally, in
N. metacista
the gastral pubescence is very appressed against the cuticle. In contrast
N. bibadia
possess gastral pubescence that is less appressed, the gaster having a shaggy appearance. The anteroventral process of the penial sclerites in
N. metacista
is distinctly emarginate in contrast to the broadly rounded anteroventral process of
N. bibadia
. Uniquely among West Indian
Nylanderia
N. bibadia
,
N. metacista
and
N. pubens
have rather elongated penial sclerites. The valvurae of the penial sclerites in all three species are also ventral to the midline of the penial sclerites (fig. 105). It is not surprising that
N. metacista
and
N. bibadia
workers can be challenging to separate from each other because molecular analyses indicate they are sister taxa (
Gotzek
et al
. 2012
).