Lordomyrma

Taylor, Robert W., 2009, Ants of the genus Lordomyrma Emery (1) Generic synonymy, composition and distribution, with notes on Ancyridris Wheeler and Cyphoidris Weber (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae), Zootaxa 1979, pp. 16-28 : 20

Australian Lordomyrma species

There are at least 4 or 5 known mainland eastern Australian species represented in the ANIC and confidently referable to Lordomyrma . L. punctiventris ( Figs 3, 4), alone is named. The similar L. leae is known only from Lord Howe Island.

Interspecific morphological diversity is low among Australian Lordomyrma species, as in the Asian species, which they generally resemble (compare Figs 1, 2 with Figs 3, 4 - undescribed Asian and Australian species are even more alike than these). They likewise relate to bridging elements of the New Guinean fauna, including L. cryptocera (Figs 5, 6), sufficiently to confirm their long-recognized congeneric affinity with L. furcifera , and assignment to Lordomyrma . The palpal formula in four investigated species is 3:3.

The mainland Australian species are deployed along the continental east coast and Great Dividing Range, in rain forest or wet sclerophyll habitats, from Iron Range (12o S lat.) in the north, to central New South Wales ( Shattuck, 1999, fig 502). Few sympatric associations are represented. The known Iron Range species has affinities with others from New Guinea (it is for example the only Australian species lacking antennal scrobes, structures absent in several New Guinean and some New Caledonian species). The more southern Australian taxa, with L. leae , constitute a close-knit species group, that of L. punctiventris . An undescribed species similar to L. punctiventris was illustrated by Hölldobler & Wilson, 1990: 110.

Figures

FIGURES 1, 2. Lordomyrma azumai, Honshu, Japan, HW 0.80 mm, WL 1.14 mm.