Monomorium

Wheeler, W. M., 1922, The ants collected by the American Museum Congo Expedition., Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 45, pp. 39-269 : 161-162

publication ID

20597

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6288784

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E2552513-3A8D-241B-CA52-067AC6BD254E

treatment provided by

Christiana

scientific name

Monomorium
status

 

Monomorium View in CoL   HNS Mayr

The numerous species of this large and difficult genus are all small but form populous colonies, commonly with several fertile females.

The worker is usually monomorphic, in the subgenera Parholcomyrmex   HNS and Holcomyrmex   HNS tending more or less to dimorphism. Clypeus abrupt, not sharply marked off from the frontal area, with two longitudinal welts or ridges of ten bordering an impressed median area and terminating anteriorly in projections or teeth. (These welts are fused in the subgenus Syllophopsis   HNS ). Mandibles narrow, with few teeth. Maxillary palpi 1- to 2-jointed, labial palpi 2-jointed. Antennae 12-jointed, in a few subgenera 11-jointed, in one species ( M. decamerum   HNS ) 10-jointed, the club typically 3- jointed, but sometimes 4-jointed or indistinct. Promesonotal suture obsolete, the mesonotum more or less impressed at the mesoepinotal suture, the epinotum nearly always unarmed. Petiole pedunculate, with high node; postpetiole lower, rounded. Tibial spurs simple or lacking.

The female is always much larger than the worker, in some species wingless; in one Australian form (subapterum) with vestigial wings. Venation like that of Formica   HNS , with a discoidal cell, rarely without.

The male is smaller than the female, always winged, with 13-jointed antennae. Mesonotum usually without Mayrian furrows, genital appendages completely retractile.

The division of the genus was begun by Forel when he established the subgenus Martia   HNS . Emery1 has recently revised the grouping of species and has established several additional subgenera. Viehmeyer has also proposed a subgenus Corynomyrmex   HNS , and Santschi has since added the subgenera Syllophopsis   HNS and Isolcomyrmex   HNS . In a more recent paper,2 Santschi proposes to give Syllophopsis   HNS generic rank.

These subgenera (see the key, Part VII) may be arranged more or less according to their natural affinities in the following sequence:

1. Anillomyrma   HNS Emery

2. Martia   HNS Forel

3. Lampromyrmex   HNS Mayr (= Mitara   HNS Emery)

4. Chelaner   HNS Emery

5. Adlerzia   HNS Emery

6. Syllophopsis   HNS Santschi

7. Monomorium   HNS , sensu stricto

8. Notomyrmex   HNS Emery

9. Xeromyrmex   HNS Emery

10. Parholcomyrmex   HNS Emery

11. Isolcomyrmex   HNS Santschi

12. Holcomyrmex   HNS Mayr

13. Corynomyrmex   HNS Viehmeyer

The genus Monomorium   HNS , though cosmopolitan and of even wider distribution than Crematogaster   HNS since it occurs even in New Zealand and Patagonia, is represented by the great majority of species in the Old World. The Neotropical Region possesses only a few species of the typical subgenus Monomorium   HNS and the species of Martia   HNS , which are not known to occur elsewhere. The subgenera Notomyrmex   HNS , Adlerzia   HNS , and Chelaner   HNS are exclusively Australian. Anillomyrma   HNS is monotypic and known only from Ceylon. Isolcomyrmex   HNS and Syllophopsis   HNS are exclusively Ethiopian. Xeromyrmex   HNS is properly African but spreads into the Palearctic and Indian Regions. Holcomyrmex   HNS , Parholcomyrmex   HNS , and especially Monomorium   HNS , sensu stricto, are more widely distributed. Several of the species of Monomorium   HNS , sensu stricto, ( minutum   HNS , floricola   HNS , pharaonis   HNS ), Xeromyrmex   HNS ( salomonis   HNS ), and Parholcomyrmex   HNS ( gracillimum   HNS , destructor   HNS ) have been widely disseminated by commerce. The species of Holcomyrmex   HNS are harvesting ants of dry regions and this is true of certain Australian species which are allied to Parholcomyrmex   HNS , though I assign them to a new subgenus Protholcomyrmex   HNS (with the type Monomorium rothsteini   HNS Forel) to be described in a later paper.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Formicidae

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