Crematogaster rochai Forel

Wild, A. L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)., Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 52

publication ID

21367

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:B08DA0DB-EEC0-4ED3-9FBE-59328B034102

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6239959

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/DAE1ADFA-CF4E-F213-16C2-468C5272C5A7

treatment provided by

Thomas

scientific name

Crematogaster rochai Forel
status

 

Crematogaster rochai Forel   HNS 1903.

Crematogaster rochai Forel   HNS 1903: 255. [w syntypes examined, MHNG; Ceará, Brazil, (Rocha)]

Crematogaster brevispinosa r. rochai Forel   HNS . Forel 1912c: 213.

Crematogaster (Orthocrema) brevispinosa st. malevolens Santschi   HNS 1919: 41. NEW SYNONYMY. [w syntypes examined, NHMB; Nueva Pompeya , Chaco, Argentina (Joergensen)] .

Crematogaster (Orthocrema) brevispinosa subsp. rochai Forel   HNS . Emery 1924a: 134.

Crematogaster (Orthocrema) brevispinosa rochai Forel   HNS . Kempf 1972: 86.

Crematogaster (Crematogaster) rochai Forel   HNS . Longino 2003: 102.

Crematogaster (Crematogaster) malevolens Santschi   HNS . Longino 2003: 131. Raised to species.

Crematogaster rochai   HNS can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: antennal scapes short, less than.8x head length, in repose failing to reach posterior margin of head in full-face view; dorsal surface of head largely devoid of erect setae; promesonotum slightly arched in profile; propodeal suture present but not deep; postero-dorsal face of propodeum forming a single concave slope, not broken into distinct dorsal and posterior faces; propodeal spines short and upturned; first gastric tergite (= abd. tergite 4) with <6 standing setae exclusive of posterior row.

Mature colonies in the Crematogaster crinosa   HNS complex, including C. rochai   HNS , are polymorphic in the worker caste and occasionally produce rather large workers. Santschi’s C. malevolens   HNS seems to be little other than a large C. rochai   HNS . I can find no consistent characters to separate C. malevolens   HNS from the C. rochai   HNS type or from Paraguayan material that Jack Longino has identified as C. rochai   HNS . Longino (2003) elevated C. malevolens   HNS to species with the intent to clear trinomials from the C. crinosa   HNS complex but did not provide additional reasoning. If C. malevolans   HNS is indeed conspecific with what I call C. rochai   HNS in Paraguay, an alternate resolution would be to split these southern populations off from C. rochai   HNS under the name C. malevolens   HNS . Specimens from southern South America are more pilose and bear a stronger propodeal suture than more northerly material Longino (2003), character states that apply equally to C. malevolens   HNS . Considering the allopatric nature of the variation, however, I prefer to retain a single species.

MHNG

Switzerland, Geneva, Museum d'Histoire Naturelle

NHMB

Switzerland, Basel, Naturhistorisches Museum

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hymenoptera

Family

Formicidae

Genus

Crematogaster

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