Dolichoderus extensispinus Forel

Shattuck, Steven O. & Marsden, Sharon, 2013, Australian species of the ant genus Dolichoderus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 3716 (2), pp. 101-143 : 117-118

Dolichoderus extensispinus Forel

( Fig. 10 )

Dolichoderus doriae extensispina Forel, 1915: 76 (raised to species by Clark 1930:256).

Types. 24 worker syntypes from Blackall Range, Queensland (2 in NHMB, 2 in ANIC, 1 in USNM, 19 in MHNG).

Diagnosis. Pronotum and propodeum with elongate spines; pronotal spines directed laterally and dorsally. The presence of pronotal spines directed laterally and dorsally will distinguish D. extensispinus from all other Australian Dolichoderus species.

Worker description. See Fig. 10 . The available material shows little morphological variation from the figured specimen.

Measurements (n=5). CI 90–94; EI 21–22; EL 0.36–0.42; HL 1.84–2.06; HW 1.65–1.92; ML 2.72–3.07; MTL 2.02–2.25; PronI 61.36–66.81; PronW 1.07–1.25; SI 106–115; SL 1.90–2.07.

Material examined. Queensland: 15km ESE Gympie (Shattuck,S.O.) (ANIC); Blackall Range (Mjoberg) (ANIC); Blackall Range (Lea,A.M.) (SAMA); Blackall Range (Borch,C.H.) (ANIC); Boombana NP, Brisbane (Taylor,R.W.) (ANIC); Brisbane, Gold Cr. Res. (Lowery,B.B.) (ANIC); Cairns (Bourne,E.H.) (ANIC); Cooloola, Como Forestry HQ (Greenslade,P.J.M.) (ANIC); Cooran Plateau nr. Traveston (Taylor,R.W. & Kohout,R.) (ANIC); Mapleton (Hacker,H.) (ANIC); Mt. Nebo (Lowery,B.; Lowery,B.B.) (ANIC).

Comments. Dolichoderus extensispinus occurs in forests ranging from dry sclerophyll to rainforest in a restricted region of south-eastern Queensland. It nests under stones and forages on low vegetation and trees. There is a single specimen, collected many years ago, labelled as being from Cairns, some 2000kms north of the main range of this species. Given that the species has not been collected in this area since this record should be considered suspect and it is unlikely that this species occurs there.

Figures

FIGURE 10. Dolichoderus extensispinus, worker from Boombana National Park, Brisbane, Queensland (ANIC 32 - 061379). A. Front of head; B. Side of body; C. Top of body; D. Distribution of material examined.