Vollenhovia kaselela, Clouse, R. M., 2007

Clouse, R. M., 2007, New ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from Micronesia., Zootaxa 1475, pp. 1-19 : 13-15

Vollenhovia kaselela n. sp.

Plate 5

HOLOTYPE WORKER: TL 2.00, HL 0.54, HW 0.45, CI 84, SL 0.31, SI 69, PW 0.35, ML 0.25, PL 0.21, DPW 0.17, PWI 81, PPL 0.20, PPW 0.19, PPWI 95. Mandible outer margin straight, curved at apical tip. Masticatory margin with six teeth, apical and penultimate teeth sharp, remaining four teeth blunter, decreasing in size basally. Head roughly rectangular, tapering slightly toward mandibles, median vertex concave. Eyes lateral, upper margin of eyes at mid-level of head. Antennae 12-segmented with indistinct, three-segmented club; first segment of club three times as large as previous, second segment of club 80% larger, and terminal antennal segment twice as large as penultimate. Frontal lobes not hiding torulus completely, stopping at insertions. Mesosoma nearly flat in profile, trace of metanotal groove, gently sloping at propodeal declivity but with small latero-dorsal corners. Propodeal lobes extending nearly halfway up declivity and posteriorly the same distance. Petiole (not including keel) roughly cylindrical, anterior node rising vertically, with small tooth in profile at location of spiracle then sloping up to dorsal surface; tapered dorsally, ridged around posterior socket. Peduncle indistinct. Ventral petiolar keel constituting one fifth total petiolar height, anterior edge vertical, dorsal edge sloping up at about 45 degrees to point just anterior to postpetiolar insertion; lower extreme of keel translucent. Postpetiole globular, ventral edge concave, with lip ventrally at petiolar juncture. Gaster elliptical, 80% covered by first tergite. Color: Most of head, mesosoma, petiole, postpetiole, gaster, forecoxae, and femora blackish brown; mandibles, clypeus and anterior head around mandibular insertions, and remainder of legs orange-brown. Pilosity: Mostly covered with mixture of long, straight, standing hairs and short hairs curved back to the body surface. Clypeus with two long, straight hairs immediately below antennal insertions, pointing toward midline. Hairs on face shorter and more depressed than remainder of body, pointed toward vertical midline. Pilosity on dorsal mesosoma as with head, low and curved toward center, but mixed with a few very long, standing hairs along the dorso-lateral edge. Hairs less numerous but longer on dorsal petiole and postpetiole. Lateral propodeum and mesepisternum as well as lateral and anterior faces of petiole hairless. Dorsal and ventral gaster with curved, short hairs and long, straight ones mixed. Mandibles, antennae, lateral pronotum, and legs with short, curved hairs. Sculpturing: Head striae starting immediately above median clypeus, gena with distinct striae but no punctures or hairs. Small smooth patches lacking on dorsal pronotum, mesonotum, or propodeum. Declivity and entire dorsal petiole and postpetiole smooth.

PARATYPE WORKER: TL 1.90, HL 0.55, HW 0.48, CI 86, SL 0.31, SI 66, PW 0.38, ML 0.26, PL 0.23, DPW 0.18, PWI 78, PPL 0.20, PPW 0.20, PPWI 100.

Similar species: The only other small Vollenhovia species with such extensive punctures and striations on the head is an unidentified specimen from Chuuk Island (Clouse, in press); however, kaselela is easily distinguished from it by its larger size and proportionately wider petiolar node. Vollenhovia kaselela is also darker, has narrower striations on the gena, more puncturing on the pronotum, and less sculpturing on the dorsal petiolar node than this Chuukese specimen. The Melanesian species V. subtilis Emery 1887 also has striate genae but in addition to being redder in color and slightly larger than kaselela , is less punctured, being smooth just anterior of the propodeal spiracle and on the dorsal propodeum. The blanket of regular punctures on Vollenhovia kaselela is approached in the similarly sized V. emeryi Wheeler 1906 (especially its subspecies chosenica Wheeler 1928) and V. banksi Forel 1910b subspecies kuchingensis Wheeler 1919 from Borneo, but they do not have striate gena.

Etymology: Kaselel means “beautiful” or “perfect,” in Pohnpeian.

Type locality: Pohnpei Island, Federated States of Micronesia

Type series: Holotype worker: FSM Pohnpei: Pohnpei I., Nett Municipality, Nanpil (Dybas, 25-II-1948). Paratype worker (1): FSM Pohnpei: Pohnpei I., PATS (walking on rotten log , collected by hand, 21-III-2000, Clouse)