''Cardiocondyla pirata'', or pirate ant, is a
species of
ant in the
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
Myrmicinae
Myrmicinae is a subfamily of ants, with about 140 extant genera; their distribution is cosmopolitan. The pupae lack cocoons. Some species retain a functional sting. The petioles of Myrmicinae consist of two nodes. The nests are permanent and ...
.
Known from the
Philippines, the female castes show a
pigmentation pattern not known from any ant worldwide. Little is known about their biology.
Description
Discovered in the
Laguna
Laguna (Italian and Spanish for lagoon) may refer to:
People
* Abe Laguna (born 1992), American DJ known as Ookay
* Andrés Laguna (1499–1559), Spanish physician, pharmacologist, and botanist
* Ana Laguna (born 1955), Spanish-Swedish ballet d ...
,
Philippines, the species belongs to an
Indo-Malayan group of six species that is characterized by workers having a strongly bilobate postpetiolar
sternite
The sternum (pl. "sterna") is the ventral portion of a segment of an arthropod thorax or abdomen.
In insects, the sterna are usually single, large sclerites, and external. However, they can sometimes be divided in two or more, in which case the ...
and a thickset
mesosoma with strongly convex dorsal profile as well as wingless,
ergatoid males with sickle-shaped
mandibles. The female castes show a pigmentation pattern not known from any ant worldwide. If having any adaptive value, a possible function of this structure is supposed to be visual dissolution of body shape in order to irritate predators.
Pigmentation pattern
''C. pirata'' cannot be confused with any ant worldwide because of its unique pigmentation pattern. The adaptive significance of the extraordinary pigmentation remains a puzzle. The poor resolution of the visual system (workers and males have only 50–65
ommatidiae per eye) and the dominance of chemical and tactile recognition cues in these ants as well as the fact that mating happens in darkness of the nest certainly exclude a function as an intraspecific recognition signal. A possible function could be visual dissolution of body shape by alternating dark and light pigment in order to escape the attention of a predator. The unpigmented
petiole in particular, being in living condition rather translucent, permits the visual impression that anterior and posterior body are separate objects.
The
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
, pirate ant, and
species epithet, ''pirata'', refers to the black ribbon across the eye reminiscent of a
pirate's
blindfold.
Biology
Little is known about their biology. The initial description of the species was based on two
colonies: one complete colony consisting of three
dealate queens, 15 workers and brood collected in the field, and a second colony used only for sampling. The first colony produced over 20 female sexuals and one ergatoid male in the lab, but thereafter died. Hence, there are no long-term observations on the life history of this species. Based on related species of the
Oriental
The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...
and Indo-Malayan region Seifert & Frohschammer (2013) predict the following biological traits: (a) there are only ergatoid males – winged males, which are an ancestral trait in ''
Cardiocondyla
''Cardiocondyla'' is an Old World genus of ants in the subfamily Myrmicinae.
Distribution
Approximately 70 species are currently recognized as belonging to this genus, most of which are distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics, b ...
'', are no longer developed, (b) ergatoid males are long-lived, mate always inside the nest and try to kill rivals using their sickle-shaped mandibles in order to monopolize the matings and (c) nests should contain 1–4 queens.
References
*
*
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13382534
Myrmicinae
Insects described in 2013
Hymenoptera of Asia