Eurhopalothrix platisquama Taylor, 1990

Satria, R. & Jannatan, R., 2021, Dealate queens of the ant genus Eurhopalothrix Brown et Kempf, 1961 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae) from Sumatra, Far Eastern Entomologist 430, pp. 11-16 : 12-14

Eurhopalothrix platisquama Taylor, 1990

Figs 1–5

MATERIAL EXAMINED. Indonesia: West Sumatra, Padang, Pauh, Limau Manis,

Sarasah Uwak Waterfall, 0°54'47.7" S, 100°28'54.8"E, near the waterfall and disturbed forest, 6.II 2021, colony code RS6ii2021- SU5, 1 dealate gyne and 8 workers, leg. R. Satria.

DESCRIPTION OF DEALATE QUEEN (hitherto unknown). In general, appearance queen is similar to worker, for worker description see Taylor (1990). Head in full-face view subtriangular, slightly longer than broad, with posterior and posterolateral margins almost straight ( Fig. 1 ); ocelli present; distance between lateral ocelli longer than distance between lateral and median ocelli, and four times as long as major axis of median ocellus; ocelli in lateral view slightly protruded dorsad; eye large, with about 114 ommatidia; clypeus in fullface view broader than long, with anterior margin slightly concave; frontal carina bordering deep antennal scrobe below eye, allowing total reception of antenna; antenna 7-segmented;

antennal scape expanded anterad; mandible triangular; masticatory margin with nine teeth.

Mesosoma with main sclerites associated with wing function ( Figs 2, 4 ), in dorsal view short and stout; anterodorsal slope of pronotum in lateral view steep; anterodorsal outline of mesoscutum in lateral view relatively gentle; propodeal spiracle conspicuous.

Body entirely densely foveolate. Body covered almost entirely by flat-surfaced and squamiform hairs, detail description of these hairs given by Taylor (1990). Head in full-face view, with four standing setae on vertex of head ( Fig. 1); antennal scape with two-row of setae at outer edge, first row directly on corner with 10 thick and long setae getting shorter distally; second row with five smaller setae, proximal setae same size of squamiform hairs,

but getting larger distally; antennal segments covered with fine simple hairs; pronotum without standing setae; mesoscutum with eight standing setae, with setae on each side of posterodorsal as thick as setae on vertex, and other slender than setae on vertex; mesoscutellum, postpetiole and first gastral tergite with two standing setae as thick as setae on vertex

( Figs 2, 4, 5 ); second and third tergite with four standing setae, second sternite with eight standing setae, third sternite with six standing setae, and these setae slender than setae on vertex. For color pattern, see Figs 1–5 ; head, antennal scape, mesosoma, all legs, petiole, and postpetiole dark reddish-brown, gaster blackish brown; antennal flagellum, tibia, and tarsi paler.

MEASUREMENTS (dealate queen). HL 0.80 mm, HW 0.90 mm, EY 0.17 mm, SL 0.43

mm, SeL 0.06 mm, DSe 0.05 mm, WL 0.96 mm, PW 0.66 mm, PSD 0.06 mm, PeL 0.44 mm,

PeW 0.37 mm, PPL 0.39 mm, PPW 0.56 mm, CI 112.

individual: RS 9ii2021 A). 1 – head in full-face view; 2 – body in lateral view; 3 – eye; 4 –

mesosoma in dorsal view; 5 – petiole and postpetiole in dorsal view.

REMARKS. So far, only the queens of Eurhopalothrix dubia Taylor, 1990 , E. omnivaga

Taylor, 1990 and E. jennya Taylor, 1990 were described (Taylor, 1990). The queen of E.

platisquama is easily distinguished from E. dubia by the combination of the following characteristics: head in full-face view with four thick standing setae near ocelli (vs. six thick standing setae in the latter); mesoscutum with eight standing setae, with setae on each side of posterodorsal as thick as setae on the vertex, and other slender than setae on the vertex (vs.

six in the latter, with thick setae on each side of posterodorsal, and other slender); postpetiole with two thick standing setae (vs. absent in the latter); first gastral tergite with two thick standing setae (vs. eight in E. dubia ). The queen E. platisquama is easily distinguished from the queen of E. jennya and E. omnivaga by the presence of flat-surfaced and squamiform hairs in the whole surface of the body and the presence of four thick standing setae near ocelli. The difference between queens of E. jennya and E. omnivaga see in Taylor (1990). The general appearance of each queen is similar to workers, the morphological difference of workers is given by Taylor (1990).

DISTRIBUTION. Indonesia: Sumatra; Malaysia: Malay Peninsula (Taylor, 1990; Mezger

& Pfeiffer, 2010). So far, this species was known from the southern part of Sumatra (Liwa,

Lampung Province) (Taylor, 1990; Mezger & Pfeiffer, 2010; Janicki et al., 2016), while we find it in the middle part of Sumatra (Padang, West Sumatra Province).

Figures

Figs 1–5. Dealate gyne of Eurhopalothrix platisquama (colony: RS6ii2021-SU5,