Cephalotes manni (Kempf, 1951)

Oliveira, Aline Machado, Powell, Scott & Feitosa, Rodrigo Machado, 2021, A taxonomic study of the Brazilian turtle ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Cephalotes), Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 65 (3), No. e 20210028, pp. 1-52 : 33

The manni species group

( Fig. 36 )

The monotypicmanni species groupis here created to accommodate the species C. manni , formerly a member of the basalis species group. This species was described by Kempf (1951), as an “isolated species” without any defined group. However, De Andrade and Baroni Urbani (1999) included this species in the basalis group.

Cephalotes manni differs from the species in the basalis group by many characters. All species in the basalis group have lamellar expansions on the margins of the pronotum, in dorsal view, while C. manni has three pairs of dentiform projections. The declivous face of propodeum and anterior face of petiole are flat in the species of the basalis group, and concave in C.manni . The species in thebasalis group have amedian dorsal projection on thehind femora, which is absentin C. manni . In dorsal view, the anterior lamellar expansionsof the gaster of species of basalis group have their apices distant to the postpetiole insertion, while in C. manni the apices of the lamellar expansions are near the postpetiolar insertion.

In the morphological phylogeny, C. manni is the sister species of the rest of the basalis group (De Andrade and Baroni Urbani, 1999, see their Fig. 24 ), but this species was not included in the molecular phylogeny (Price et al., 2016), which could corroborate its phylogenetic position.

In Brazil, C. manni occurs only in the North Region, in the Amazon Forest, like some species of basalis group, but not in sympatry with other members of this group.

Diagnosis: In workers, in lateral view, eyes occupying morethan 1/3 of the length of the head. In dorsal view, margin of pronotum with three pairs of lamellar dentiform projections. Fore femora very increased in size relative to the mid and hind femora. Lateral margins of the declivous face with broad lamellar expansion extending to the posterior dorsal spines of propodeum towards to petiolar insertion ( Fig. 2m ). Insoldiers, mesonotal spines curveddorsally. Posterior femora without projections, metatibiae never marginated.

Brazilian species of manni group

Cephalotes manni (Kempf, 1951)

Figures

Figure 2 Workers of Cephalotes. A: C. atratus (atratus group) [CASENT0178627]. B: C. depressus (depressus group) [CASENT0173671]. C and F: C. pusillus (pusillus group) [CASENT0173703].D and I:C.pellans (pallens group) [CASENT0173697].E:C.solidus (solidus group).G:C.cordatus (depressus group) [CASENT0922596].H:C.frigidus (angustus group) [UFV-LABECOL-004442]. J: C. basalis (basalis group). K: C. grandinosus (grandinosus group) [CASENT0922544]. L: C. maculatus (pinelii group) [CASENT0909295]. M: C. trichophorus (coffeae group). N and R: C. conspersus (angustus group) [R: CASENT0922530]. O: C. clypeatus (clypeatus group) [CASENT0173669]. P: C. umbraculatus (umbraculatus group) [CASENT0922582]. Q: C. jheringi (fiebrigi group). fle: femoral lamellar expansions. ge: gastral expansions. pd: posterodorsal spine. ple: propodeal lamellar expansions. ps: propodeal spine. pv: posteroventral spine.vle: vertexal lamellar expansions.

Figure 24 Distribution map of coffeae group in Brazil.Black circle:material examined. Red square: new record.

Figure 36 Distribution map of manni group in Brazil.Black circle: material examined. Red square: new record. Blue triangles: records not examined from literature. (Literature source:13).