Harpegnathos venator

Harpegnathos venator is a species of ant found in South and Southeast Asia in northern India and parts of Burma.

Harpegnathos venator
View from above (specimen from Sabah, Malaysia)
Side view (specimen from Sabah, Malaysia)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Genus: Harpegnathos
Species:
H. venator
Binomial name
Harpegnathos venator
(Smith, 1858)
Synonyms

Drepanognathus venator, Smith, 1858[1]

Subspecies
  • H. v. chapmani Donisthorpe, 1937[2]
  • H. v. rugosus (Mayr, 1862)[2]

Description
Head view of an H. venator worker
Queen
Male and queen

The following is a taxonomic description of the ant based on C. T. Bingham's The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma (Hymenoptera, Volume 2):[3]

  • Worker: Black; mandibles, clypeus, antennal carinae, and legs brownish yellow, antennae chestnut, apex of the abdomen rusty; head and thorax closely coarsely cribrate punctate ; abdomen finely densely reticulate punctate, opaque, with some large shallow punctures. Head, thorax and abdomen covered with rather sparse, short, erect pale hairs ; pubescence minute but fairly plentiful, to be seen only in certain lights. For the rest the characters of the genus.
  • Queen: Similar to the worker, but the abdomen with long oblong punctures, the ocelli in the middle of the front. Thorax and abdomen more massive and as in Harpegnathos saltator.
  • Male: Mandibles broad at the base, attenuate, narrow and slender towards the apex, which is directed forwards. Head rectangular, somewhat rounded, broader than long. Eyes rather smaller than in the queen. A short depression between the mesonotum and scutellum, bordered by carinae and strongly striated inside. Smooth and shining, except for the thorax, which is coarsely rugose, punctate or striated (longitudinally on the metanotum). Covered by a fine yellowish pilosity, dense on the legs, less abundant elsewhere. Pubescence very sparse. The first abdominal segment is pyriform and has the appearance of forming a second node to the pedicel, a slight constriction between the second and third segments. Thorax and pedicel of a brownish black, head and basal segment of the abdomen reddish yellow. Best of the abdomen yellow with a tinge of red. Legs and antenna) very pale testaceous.

References
  1. Cat. vi (1858):82
  2. Bolton, B. (2015). "Harpegnathos". AntCat. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  3. Bingham, C.T. 1903.The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera. Ants and cuckoo-wasps. Vol. 2 London : Taylor & Francis.
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