Vollenhovia

Vollenhovia emeryi colony, copyright Alex Wild.

Belongs within: Myrmicinae.

Vollenhovia is an Indo-Australian genus of ants most commonly found in forest habitats in association with rotting wood and logs.

Characters (from Terayama 1999): Small to moderate-sized ants, total length of workers around 2–8 mm. Frontal carina and antennal scrobe absent. Clypeus more or less longitudinally bicarinate. Antenna with 12 segments, rarely 11 segments, the funicles ending in a 3-segmented club. Frontal lobe present. Maxillary palp with 1–3 segments, usually 2 segments. Eye present, relatively large. Ventral processes distinct on meso- and metasternum. Middle and hind legs without tibial spur. Petiole sessile or subsessile. Subpetiolar process present, often blade-like. Petiole not particularly more voluminous than postpetole in dorsal view.

<==Vollenhovia Mayr 1865 (see below for synonymy) Z01
    |--*V. punctatostriata Mayr 1865 T99
    |--V. amamiana T99
    |--V. benzai T99
    |--V. brachycera Emery 1914 [=V. brevicornis Emery 1897 non Monomorium brevicorne Emery 1893] E14
    |--V. brevicornis (Emery 1893) [=Monomorium brevicorne] E14
    |--V. denticulata Emery 1914 E14
    |--V. emeryi Wheeler 1906 Z01
    |--V. nipponica T99
    |--V. oblonga (Smith 1860) [=Myrmica oblonga] TB85
    |    |--V. o. oblonga E14
    |    |--V. o. alluaudi E14
    |    |--V. o. dispar E14
    |    |--V. o. laevithorax Emery 1889 E14, B03
    |    `--V. o. pedestris [incl. V. pedestris var. bandarensis] E14
    |--V. okinawana T99
    |--V. rufescens E14
    |--V. sakishimana T99
    `--V. yambaru Terayama 1999 T99

Vollenhovia Mayr 1865 [=Vollenhovenia Forel 1893; incl. Acalama Smith 1949, Dorothea Donisthorpe 1948, Dyomorium Donisthorpe 1947, Gauromyrmex Mennozzi 1933, Heteromyrmex Wheeler 1920, Propdomyrma Wheeler 1915, Solenomyrma Karavajew 1935] Z01

*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.

[E14] Emery, C. 1914. Les fourmis de la Nouvelle-Calédonie & des îles Loyalty. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 4 pp. 393–436, pl. 12. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.

[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 7. Supplement to the genus Vollenhovia Mayr. Memoirs of the Myrmecological Society of Japan 1: 109–112.

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