Discovery of Remarkable New Ant Species of the Genus Pseudolasius Emery (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) From Western Ghats of India

Shahid Ali Akbar, Himender Bharti, Aijaz Ahmad Wachkoo

Abstract


Pseudolasius zamrood sp. n., is described based upon the worker and the sexual caste. The new species marks the first record of the genus from South India and represents only the seventh species of the genus to be reported from India. The species appears distinct with its extremely reduced eyes. The new species is closest to P. typhlos Wheeler, 1912 from Philippines. However the new species has truncated anterior clypeal margin at the middle lobe, scapes relatively short and propodeum has relatively narrow dorsum in lateral view


Keywords


Ants, Pseudolasius, India, Western Ghats, South India

Full Text:

PDF

References


Bharti, H., Guénard, B., Bharti, M. & Economo E.P. (2016).

An updated checklist of the ants of India with their specific

distributions in Indian states (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

ZooKeys, 551: 1-83. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.551.6767.

Bharti, H., Gul, I. & Sharma, Y.P. (2012). Pseudolasius

machhediensis, a new ant species from Indian Himalaya

(Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Sociobiology, 59(3): 805-813.

doi: 10.13102/sociobiology.v59i3.548.

Bolton, B. (2017). An online catalog of the ants of the world.

Available from: http://antcat.org (accessed on 10-07-2017).

LaPolla, J.S. (2004). Taxonomic review of the ant genus

Pseudolasius in the Afrotropical region. Journal of the New

York Entomological Society, 112: 97-105. doi: 10.1664/0028-

(2004)112[0097:TROTAG]2.0.CO;2.

LaPolla, J.S., Brady, S.G. & Shattuck, S.O. (2010). Phylogeny

and taxonomy of the Prenolepis genus-group of ants.

Systematic Entomology, 35: 118-131. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-

2009.00492.x.

Wachkoo, A.A. & Bharti, H. (2014). Two new species

of Pseudolasius (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) from India.

Sociobiology, 61: 274-280. doi: 10.13102/sociobiology.

v61i3.274-280.

Wheeler, W.M. (1935). New ants from the Philippines. Psyche

(Cambridge), 42:38-52.

Wu, J. & Wang, C. (1995). The Ants of China. China Forestry

Publishing House, Beijing, 214 p.

Xu, Z. (1997). A taxonomic study of the ant genus Pseudolasius

Emery in China. Zoological Research, 18: 1-6.

Zhou, S.Y. (2001). Ants of Guangxi. Guangxi Normal University

Press, Guilin, China, 255 p.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.13102/sociobiology.v64i2.1188

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


JCR Impact Factor 2015: 0.702