Prionopelta Mayr, 1866a

Eguchi, Katsuyuki, Viet, Bui Tuan & Yamane, Seiki, 2014, Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part II — Cerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae, Zootaxa 3860 (1), pp. 1-46 : 25-26

Prionopelta Mayr, 1866a

Taxonomy. The genus Prionopelta is assigned to the tribe Amblyoponini ( Bolton 2003) . Indo-Pacific species were recently revised by Shattuck (2008).

Morphology. Workers of Vietnamese species have the following features:

Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view subrectangular; preoccipital carina absent dorsally and laterally; frontal lobes small, horizontal, separated from each other by a longitudinal sulcus; antennal sockets in full-face view largely concealed by frontal lobe, located relatively far from anterior margin of head; anteromedian portion of clypeus relatively long anteroposteriorly, roundly convex anteriad; anterior clypeal margin with a series of ca. 15 processes on which a stub-like, very short seta present; mandible elongate-triangular; masticatory margin with 3 teeth; antenna 12-segmented; apical 4 segments forming a club; eye reduced, consisting of a few ommatidia, a little behind midlength of side of head; mesosoma in lateral view almost flat dorsally; promesonotal suture present and flexible; metanotal groove usually distinct dorsally; propodeum unarmed; propodeal lobe very low; petiole without anterior peduncle, broadly attached to abdominal segment III, in lateral view without a free posterior face; petiolar process well developed, anteriorly with a conspicuous round depression; abdominal segment III with a free anterior face below helcium only; girdling constriction between abdominal segment III and IV weak; pygidium large, convex across; pygidium and hypopygium unarmed laterally and posteriorly; sting well developed.

Differentiation. The worker of Opamyrma is easily distinguished from that of the other Vietnamese genera of Amblyoponinae by its elongate-triangular mandible.

Vietnamese species (1 sp.).

P. sp. eg-1 [cf. P. kraepelini Forel, 1905 ]. Au (Pu Mat).

Bionomics. Only two individuals of Prionopelta sp. were collected in sandy soil of Sang Le Forest, Pu Mat National Park.