Myrmelachista nodigera Mayr 1887

Wild, Alexander L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 44

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.179222
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6247319
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03C2878B-FFED-FFE9-F3D4-D2FC3581F863
treatment provided by	Plazi
scientific name	Myrmelachista nodigera Mayr 1887
status

Treatment

Myrmelachista nodigera Mayr 1887 View in CoL .

Myrmelachista nodigera Mayr 1887: 529 View in CoL . [holotype w examined, NHMW; Santa Catharina, Brazil, Hetschko].

Myrmelachista nodigera View in CoL var. flavicornis Emery 1896b: 638 . NEW SYNONYMY. [syntype w examined, MCSN; Concepción, Paraguay (Bohls)].

Myrmelachista nodigera View in CoL subsp. pallida Forel 1909: 263 . NEW SYNONYMY. [syntype w examined, MHNG; San Bernadino, Cordillera, Paraguay (Fiebrig)].

Myrmelachista (Decamera) nodigera Mayr. Emery 1925: 33 View in CoL .

Myrmelachista (Decamera) nodigera View in CoL var. flavicornis Emery. Emery 1925: 33 .

Myrmelachista (Decamera) nodigera View in CoL subsp. pallida Forel. Emery 1925: 33 .

Myrmelachista (Hinckisidris) nodigera Mayr. Kempf 1972: 150 View in CoL .

Myrmelachista (Hinckisidris) nodigera View in CoL var. flavicornis Emery. Kempf 1972: 150 .

Myrmelachista (Hinckisidris) nodigera pallida Forel. Kempf 1972: 150 View in CoL .

Worker head shape in Myrmelachista nodigera shows slight allometric variation within nest series, with larger workers having somewhat broader heads, and this variation may have misled Emery and Forel in defining their intraspecific taxa flavicornis and pallida , both from Paraguay. Mayr’s M. nodigera type is a larger and more robust worker than the types of M. flavicornis and M. pallida , yet single nest series I have collected in Canindeyú and San Pedro span the range of variation encompassed by the type specimens for all three taxa. Color is also variable within a nest, presumably related to worker age, so Forel’s distinction of M. pallida on color is baseless. In my estimation the known Paraguayan collections related to M. nodigera comprise a single species.

Forel’s type of Myrmelachista arborea (MHNG, examined) from San Bernadino is a single queen unassociated with workers. Judging from the shape of the petiole, M. arborea may be the queen of M. nodigera . Further collections to obtain complete nest series will help establish the identity of this species.

Copyright notice

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Taxonomy

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Arthropoda
Class	Insecta
Order	Hymenoptera
Family	Formicidae
Genus	Myrmelachista