Taxonomy of the African army ant Dorylus gribodoi Emery, 1892 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) & # 8212; new insights from DNA sequence data and morphology.
Author
Schöning, C.
Author
Gotwald, W. H.
Author
Kronauer, D. J. C.
text
Zootaxa
2008
1749
39
52
http://hol.osu.edu/reference-full.html?id=21588
journal article
21588
Dorylus kohli Wasmann
1904
Dorylus (Anomma) kohli Wasmann
1904: 669. Six syntype workers, DR Congo: St. Gabriel (near Kisangani), collected by P. Kohl,
NHME
(examined).
Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus Santschi
1914: 430. Holotype worker, Tanzania: Manow, collected by M. Viehmeyer,
NHMB
(examined), new synonomy.
Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus
; Wheeler 1922: 736, Bolton 1995: 180.
Since the diagnostic features of large
D. gribodoi
workers are constant in all examined samples (from eastern Guinea to eastern Nigeria) and the
Dorylus gerstaeckeri st. quadratus
worker from Tanzania (more than 3000 km outside the recorded range of
D. gribodoi
) lacks these features, we exclude this form from
D. gribodoi
and place it under
D. kohli Wasmann
.
FIGURE
13. Dorsal view of the hypopygium of the
D. gribodoi
queen (HAD 2.53 mm).
FIGURE 14. Dorsal view of
D. gribodoi
queen mesosoma (PeW 4.54 mm).
The matching of males and workers by analysis of gene sequences of specimens from the same population is a promising approach for clarifying the taxonomy of army ants and other groups of ants in which these forms are rarely collected together. The discovery of more male-worker associations is essential not only for sorting out the taxonomic confusion in
Dorylus
, but also for determining the diagnostic features of the subgenera.