Ponera abeillei

Bolton, B. & Fisher, B. L., 2011, Taxonomy of Afrotropical and West Palaearctic ants of the ponerine genus Hypoponera Santschi (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 2843, pp. 1-118 : 12-13

abeillei group

Species with the following combination of characters in the worker caste.

1 Metanotal groove vestigial to absent across dorsum of mesosoma; at most represented by a vague depression, slight change of slope or a simple line, never a strongly defined deep groove that conspicuously interrupts the surface.

2 Mesonotal-mesopleural suture feeble to absent.

3 Petiole node never squamiform.

4 Eyes absent, or a dark spot, or a single small, inconspicuous ommatidium; only uncommonly with several ommatidia.

5 Anterior clypeal margin lacks a median indentation or notch.

This large group, by far the largest in Africa, falls into two main sections, each of which contains a number of closely related species complexes.

Section 1 contains those species in which the disc of the second gastral tergite is microreticulate or has superficial punctures that are so closely packed that their margins are confluent or nearly so; and which have the maximum width of the first gastral tergite in dorsal view less than the width of the second tergite at its midlength. The latter is because the sides of the second tergite, in dorsal view, tend to be convex, for example Figs 9, 12, 15, 21, 27, 45, 48, 60, 66, 84, 93. This section, which contains abeillei itself, breaks down into four Afrotropical complexes of related species. In the first complex ( lepida and obtunsa ), the base of the cinctus of the second gastral tergite is smooth, without cross-ribs. In the other complexes cross-ribs are conspicuous. The second complex contains only angustata , a minute species in which the funiculus has only the four apical segments distinctly enlarged; in all other species there are usually obviously five, and sometimes vaguely six, gradually incrassate segments apically. The third complex contains austra , exigua , natalensis and traegaordhi , characterised by the possession of a transverse groove or impression, which has a conspicuous dorsal margin, on the posterior face of the petiole node above the posterior peduncle. The final complex is artificial and contains all the remaining species of the section that lack the specialisations just mentioned ( blanda , bulawayensis , camerunensis , coeca , defessa , fatiga , juxta , hawkesi , inaudax , lassa , meridia , orba , pulchra , regis , rigida , perparva ).

Section 2 contains those species that have the disc of the second gastral tergite with sharply incised punctures that are widely separated by areas of smooth, shining cuticle; and the maximum width of the first gastral tergite in dorsal view is equal to or greater than the width of the second tergite at its midlength, because the sides of the second tergite, in dorsal view, tend to be straight or even slightly concave, for example Figs 6, 24, 30, 51, 57, 81, 87, 90, 120, 129. This section falls into three complexes. In the first ( faex , hebes , jeanneli , jocosa , mixta , quaestio , surda , tecta , ursa ) the posterior surface of the petiole node has a radiating series of short cuticular ridges just above the posterior peduncle, and the base of the cinctus of the second gastral tergite has cross-ribs present. In the second complex ( dema , molesta , segnis , tristis , venusta ) cuticular ridges are absent from the posterior face of the petiole node but the cinctus of the second gastral tergite retains cross-ribs. The final complex ( aprora , comis , dis, importuna, occidentalis , odiosa , producta ) lacks ridges on the posterior face of the petiole node and also lacks cross-ribs at the base of the cinctus of the second gastral tergite so that the base of the cinctus is smooth and shining.