Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2142 No. 1: 26 Jun. 2009
Type: Articles
Published: 2009-06-26
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2142.1.5
Page range: 57–68
Abstract views: 56
PDF downloaded: 2

Six new, unusually small ants of the genus Leptomyrmex (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Australian Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
CSIRO Entomology, P. O. Box 1700, Canberra, A.C.T., Australia
Hymenoptera Formicidae Dolichoderinae Leptomyrmex taxonomy new species Australia

Abstract

The ant genus Leptomyrmex contains 41 named taxa which are limited to eastern Australia, New Guinea and New Caledonia. While most species are large and distinctive, a few species are much smaller and have only recently been recognised as belonging to this genus. These six species, informally called micro-Leptomyrmex, are restricted to rainforests and wet sclerophyll forests in two relatively small regions of eastern Australia. All are described here for the first time and include L. aitchisoni n. sp., L. burwelli n. sp., L. dolichoscapus n. sp., L. garretti n. sp., L. pilosus n. sp. and L. ramorniensis n. sp.

References

  1. Grey, M. & Cassis, G. (1994) Results of ground dwelling invertebrate fauna surveys of north-eastern NSW forests. North East Forests Biodiversity Report No. 3c. NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service internal report.

    Mayr, G. (1862) Myrmecologische Studien. Verhandlungen der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 12, 649–776.

    Shattuck, S.O. (1992) Generic revision of the ant subfamily Dolichoderinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology, 21, 1–181.

    Shattuck, S.O. (1999) Australian ants: their biology and identification. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Victoria, xi+226 pp.

    Wheeler, W.M. (1934) A second revision of the ants of the genus Leptomyrmex Mayr. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 77, 69–118.