''Acanthoponera'' is a
Neotropical
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In biogeogra ...
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
ant
Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...
s in the subfamily
Ectatomminae
Ectatomminae is a subfamily of ants in the poneromorph subfamilies group containing four extant and three extinct genera in two tribes. The subfamily was described in 2003 when Barry Bolton divided the Ponerinae
Ponerinae, the ponerine a ...
. ''Acanthoponera'' contains six (one is indeterminate, and one is a morphotaxon) rarely collected species and a fifth unnamed species mentioned by Brown (1958) only known from a stray
gyne
The gyne (, from Greek γυνή, "woman") is the primary reproductive female caste of social insects (especially ants, wasps, and bees of order Hymenoptera, as well as termites). Gynes are those destined to become queens, whereas female workers ...
.
''Acanthoponera'' is a genus of ants from the New World, distributed from Mexico to Argentina (approximately). Specimens have been observed in wooded areas.
Identification
Medium size in workers (5-10mm) pale yellow color in its majority, large convex eyes and shallow antennal brooms. The propodeum bears a pair of teeth or spines (long and slender in worker), and the apex of the petiole node occurs dorsocaudally as a thin subconical spine with a more or less sharp point. The tarsal claws are very well developed and each bears not only a strong submedian tooth, but also a prominent narrow lobe resembling a third tooth.
• Count of antennal segments: 12 • Antennal club: 4-5 • Palp formula: 6.4 • Total tooth count: 6-9
Species
* ''
Acanthoponera goeldii''
Forel, 1912
* ''
Acanthoponera minor''
(Forel, 1899)
* ''
Acanthoponera mucronata''
(Roger, 1860)
* ''
Acanthoponera peruviana''
Brown, 1958
References
*
*
External links
*
Ectatomminae
Ant genera
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