Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 2480 No. 1: 21 May. 2010
Type: Articles
Published: 2010-05-21
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2480.1.2
Page range: 27–36
Abstract views: 37
PDF downloaded: 17

A new species of Asphinctopone (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) from Tanzania

AfriBugs CC, 379 Bakenkloof Street, Pretoria North, Gauteng Province, 0182, South Africa. Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, Gauteng Province, 0002, South Africa
Hymenoptera Africa Asphinctopone new species taxonomy distribution Bioclim Domain

Abstract

Asphinctopone is a rarely encountered genus of ponerine ants, previously known only from the wet forest zones of West and central Africa. In the most recent revision of the genus Bolton & Fisher synonymised the three previously described species under A. sylvestrii Santschi and described one new but very closely related species, A. differens Bolton & Fisher. A very distinctive new species, Asphinctopone pilosa sp. n., is described from Tanzania and represents the first record of this genus from East Africa. Modifications to the diagnosis of the genus and an updated key to the species of Asphinctopone are presented. An analysis of the distribution records of Asphinctopone, using BIOCLIM and DOMAIN as implemented in DIVA-GIS 7.1 to provide preliminary predictions of the potential range of the genus, is also provided.

References

  1. Beaumont, L.J., Hughes, L. & Poulsen, M. (2005) Predicting species distributions: use of climatic parameters in BIOCLIM and its impact on predictions of species’ current and future distributions. Ecological Modelling, 186, 250–269.

    Bolton, B. & Fisher, B.L. (2008) The Afrotropical ponerine ant genus Asphinctopone Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Zootaxa, 1827, 53–61.

    Brown, W.L.,Jr. (1953) Characters and synonymies among the genera of ants. Part II. Breviora, 18, 1–8.

    Belshaw, R. & Bolton, B. (1994) A survey of the leaf litter ant fauna in Ghana, West Africa (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Journal of Hymenoptera Research, 3, 5–16.

    Bernard, F. (1953) La reserve naturelle integrale du Mt Nimba. XI. Hyménoptères Formicidae. Mémoires de l'Institut Français d'Afrique Noire, 19, 165–270.

    Fisher, B.L. (2010) Antweb. Available from http://www.antweb.org (accessed 12 February 2010)

    Hijmans, R.J., Cameron, S.E., Parra, J.L., Jones P.G. & Jarvis, A. (2005) Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. International Journal of Climatology, 25, 1965–1978.

    Kadmon, R., Farber, O. & Danin, A. (2003) A systematic analysis of factors affecting the performance of climatic envelope models. Ecological Applications, 13(3), 853–867.

    Santschi, F. (1914) Formicides de l’Afrique occidentale et australe du voyage de Mr. le Professeur F. Silvestri. Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della R. Scuola Superiore d'Agricultura, 8, 309–385.

    Ward, D.F. (2007) Modelling the potential geographic distribution if invasive ant species in New Zealand. Biological Invasions, 9, 723–735.

    Watt, A.D., Stork, N.E. & Bolton, B. (2002) The diversity and abundance of ants in relation to forest disturbance and plantation establishment in southern Cameroon. Journal of Applied Ecology, 39, 18–30.

    Weber, N.A. (1949) New Ponerine Ants from Equatorial Africa. American Museum Novitates, 1398, 1–9.

    Guénard, B., Weiser, M.D. & Dunn, R.R. (2010) Ant Genera of the World. Available from http://www.antmacroecology. org/ant_genera/index.html (accessed 12 February 2010).