Pachycondyla

Worker of Pachycondyla darwinii, copyright April Nobile/antweb.org.

Belongs within: Ponerinae.

Pachycondyla is a genus of robust, generalised ants. Monophyly of the genus as historically recognised has been challenged by recent phylogenetic analyses and it may be divided between several disjunct genera. Distinct subgroups include the particularly large (head width two millimetres or more) and heavily sculpted species included in the subgenus Bothroponera (Heterick 2009).

Characters (from Heterick 2009): Clypeus narrowly inserted between frontal lobes, not produced; mandibles triangular; tibia of hind leg with both a large pectinate spur and a smaller simple spur; pretarsal claws of hind leg simple.

<==Pachycondyla Smith 1858 H09 (see below for synonymy)
    |--*P. (Pachycondyla) crassinoda (Emery 1901) [=Formica crassinoda] T99
    |--P. (Bothroponera Mayr 1862) H09, TB85
    |    |--‘*Bothroponera’ pumicosa (Roger 1860) [=Ponera pumicosa] TB85
    |    |--P. (B.) astuta Smith 1858 TB85 [=Ectomyrmex astuta Z01; incl. Ectomomyrmex sundaicus Mayr 1867 B03]
    |    |--P. (B.) barbata Stitz 1911 TB85
    |    |--P. (B.) bispinosa Smith 1858 B03
    |    |--P. (B.) denticulata (Kirby 1896) H09, TB85 [=Bothroponera denticulata TB85]
    |    |--‘Ponera’ (B.) dubitata Forel 1900 TB85
    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ excavata Emery 1893 TB85
    |    |    |--B. e. excavata TB85
    |    |    `--B. e. acuticostata (Forel 1900) [=Ponera (Bothroponera) excavata acuticostata] TB85
    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ insularis Emery 1889 E89
    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ krugeri B83
    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ mayri Emery 1887 TB85
    |    |--P. (B.) piliventris Smith 1858 TB85
    |    |    |--P. p. piliventris TB85
    |    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ p. intermedia (Forel 1900) [=Ponera (Bothroponera) piliventris intermedia] TB85
    |    |    `--P. p. regularis Forel 1907 TB85
    |    |--‘Ponera’ (B.) porcata Emery 1897 TB85
    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ rubiginosa (Emery 1889) [=Ponera rubiginosa] B03
    |    |--P. (B.) rufipes (Jerdon 1851) Z01, B03 [=Ponera rufipes Z01]
    |    |--P. (B.) sublaevis (Emery 1887) [=Bothroponera sublaevis] TB85
    |    |    |--P. s. sublaevis TB85
    |    |    |--P. s. kurandensis Forel 1910 TB85
    |    |    |--P. s. murina Forel 1910 TB85
    |    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ s. ‘reticulata’ (Forel 1900) (see below for synonymy) TB85
    |    |    `--‘Bothroponera’ s. rubicunda Emery 1893 TB85
    |    |--‘Bothroponera’ sulcata (Frauenf. 1867) (see below for synonymy) B03
    |    `--‘Bothroponera’ tesserinoda (Mayr 1878) [=Ponera tesserinoda] B03
    |--P. (Brachyponera Emery 1900) FT08
    |    |--‘*Brachyponera’ senaarensis (Mayr 1862) [=Ponera sennaarensis, Euponera (*Brachyponera) sennaarensis] TB85
    |    |--P. (B.) christmasi (Donisthorpe 1935) FT08
    |    |--‘Brachyponera’ croceicornis (Emery 1900) (see below for synonymy) TB85
    |    |--‘Brachyponera’ jerdoni (Forel 1900) [=Ponera jerdoni] B03
    |    |--P. (B.) lutea (Mayr 1862) H09, K09 [=Ponera lutea TB85]
    |    |    |--P. l. lutea [incl. Ectatomma socialis MacLeay 1873] TB85
    |    |    `--‘Brachyponera’ l. clara (Crawley 1915) [=Euponera (Brachyponera) lutea clara] TB85
    |    |--P. (B.) luteipes (Mayr 1862) Z01, B03 [=Ponera luteipes Z01]
    |    `--‘Brachyponera’ nigrita Emery 1894 [=Ponera nigrita] B03
    `--P. (Trachymesopus Emery 1911) FT08
         |--‘*Trachymesopus’ stigma (Fabricius 1804) TB85 (see below for synonymy)
         |--P. (T.) darwinii (Forel 1893) FT08 [=Belonopelta darwinii TB85, Pseudoponera darwini B03]
         |--‘Trachymesopus’ pachynoda (Clark 1930) [=Euponera (Trachymesopus) pachynoda] TB85
         `--P. (T.) rufonigra (Clark 1934) H09, TB85 (see below for synonymy)

Pachycondyla incertae sedis:
  P. amblyops (Emery 1887) B03 (see below for synonymy)
  P. annamita (André 1892) [=Ponera annamita, Bothroponera annamita, Ectomomyrmex annamitus] Z01
  ‘Mesoponera’ australis (Forel 1900) [=Ponera melanaria australis] TB85
  ‘Ponera’ caffraria Smith 1858 [=Euponera (*Mesoponera) caffraria] TB85
  ‘Mesoponera’ castanea M83
  P. chinensis (Emery 1895) [=Ponera nigrita chinensis, Euponera (Brachyponera) chinensis] Z01
  P. harpax B10
  P. javana (Mayr 1867) T99, TB85 [=*Ectomomyrmex javanus TB85]
  ‘Ponera’ leeuwenhoeki Forel 1886 [=Ectomomyrmex leeuwenhoeki] B03
  ‘Ectomomyrmex’ maternus Forel 1900 B03
  ‘Ponera’ melanaria Emery 1893 [=Mesoponera melanaria] B03
  P. pilosior T99
  P. rubra N-ZLI11
  ‘Ectomomyrmex’ ruficornis Clark 1934 TB85
  P. sakishimensis Terayama 1999 T99
  P. sharpii Forel 1899 Z01
  P. sikorae BS06
  P. solitaria FT08
  P. striata MC05
  P. villosa CM07

‘Bothroponera’ sublaevis ‘reticulata’ (Forel 1900) [=Ponera (Bothroponera) sublaevis reticulata non P. reticulata Smith 1858] TB85

‘Bothroponera’ sulcata (Frauenf. 1867) [=Ponera sulcata; incl. B. sulcata var. fossulata, B. sulcata var. sulcatotesserinoda] B03

‘Brachyponera’ croceicornis (Emery 1900) [=Euponera (Brachyponera) luteipes croceicornis; incl. E. (B.) luteipes inops Forel 1910] TB85

Pachycondyla Smith 1858 H09 [incl. Ectomomyrmex Mayr 1867 T99, TB85, Eumecopone Forel 1901 Z01, Mesoponera Emery 1900 Z01, Neoponera Emery 1901 Z01, Preadoponera T99, Pseudoneoponera Donisthorpe 1943 Z01, Pseudoponera Emery 1900 Z01, Syntermitopone Wheeler 1936 Z01, Termitopone Wheeler 1936 Z01, Trachyponera Santschi 1928 Z01, Wadeura T99, Xiphopelta Forel 1913 Z01]

Pachycondyla amblyops (Emery 1887) B03 [=Ponera amblyops B03, Belonopelta amblyops B03, Pachycondyla (*Pseudoponera) amblyops B03, Trapeziopelta amblyops E89]

Pachycondyla (Trachymesopus) rufonigra (Clark 1934) H09, TB85 [=Euponera (T.) rufonigra TB85; incl. E. (T.) clarki Wheeler 1934 TB85, Pachycondyla (T.) clarki H09]

‘*Trachymesopus’ stigma (Fabricius 1804) TB85 [=Formica stigma TB85, Euponera (*Trachymesopus) stigma TB85, Mesoponera stigma WW90]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B03] Bingham, C. T. 1903. The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera vol. 2. Ants and Cuckoo-Wasps. Taylor and Francis: London.

[B83] Bolton, B. 1983. The Afrotropical dacetine ants (Formicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History): Entomology series 46 (4): 267–416.

[BS06] Brady, S. G., T. R. Schultz, B. L. Fisher & P. S. Ward. 2006. Evaluating alternative hypotheses for the early evolution and diversification of ants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 103 (48): 18172–18177.

[B10] Brown, B. V. 2010. Phoridae (hump-backed flies, scuttle flies). In: Brown, B. V., A. Borkent, J. M. Cumming, D. M. Wood, N. E. Woodley & M. A. Zumbado (eds) Manual of Central American Diptera vol. 2 pp. 725–761. NRC Research Press: Ottawa.

[CM07] Cokendolpher, J. C., & P. G. Mitov. 2007. Natural enemies. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., G. Machado & G. Giribet (eds) Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones pp. 339–373. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[E89] Emery, C. 1889. Viaggio di Leonardo Fea in Birmania e regioni vicine. XX.—Formiche di Birmania e del Tenasserim raccolte da Leonardo Fea (1885–87). Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a, 7: 485–520.

[FT08] Framenau, V. W., & M. L. Thomas. 2008. Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) of Christmas Island (Indian Ocean): identification and distribution. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (1): 45–85.

[H09] Heterick, B. E. 2009. A guide to the ants of south-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 76: 1–206.

[K09] Kejval, Z. 2009. Taxonomic revision of the genus Chileanthicus Werner (Coleoptera: Anthicidae). Zootaxa 2180: 1–82.

[MC05] Machado, G., P. C. Carrera, A. M. Pomini & A. J. Marsaioli. 2005. Chemical defense in harvestmen (Arachnida, Opiliones): do benzoquinone secretions deter invertebrate and vertebrate predators? Journal of Chemical Ecology 31 (11): 2519–2539.

[M83] Martin, N. A. 1983. Miscellaneous observations on a pasture fauna: an annotated species list. DSIR Entomology Division Report 3: 1–98.

[N-ZLI11] Nur-Zati A. M., G. T. Lim & A. B. Idris. 2011. Checklist of ants of selected hill dipterocarp forests of peninsular Malaysia. Serangga 16 (1): 91–105.

[TB85] Taylor, R. W., & D. R. Brown. 1985. Formicoidea. In: Walton, D. W. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 2. Hymenoptera: Formicoidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea pp. 1–149. Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra.

[T99] Terayama, M. 1999. Taxonomic studies of the Japanese Formicidae, part 4. Three new species of Ponerinae. Memoirs of the Myrmecological Society of Japan 1: 7–15.

[WW90] Wheeler, G. C., & J. Wheeler. 1990. Insecta: Hymenoptera Formicidae. In: Dindal, D. L. (ed.) Soil Biology Guide pp. 1277–1294. John Wiley & Sones: New York.

[Z01] Zhou, S. 2001. Ants of Guangxi. Guangxi Normal University Press: Guilin (China).

Last updated: 14 June 2020.