''Harpegnathos venator'' is a species 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 ...

found in

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

in northern India and parts of Burma. Like other ants in the genus ''

Harpegnathos ''Harpegnathos'' is a small Ponerinae, ponerine genus of ants found in South Asia, South and Southeast Asia. They are notable for their jumping ability, complex Ant colony, colony structure, and large to very large workers easily identifiable by ...

'', it jumps to capture prey and lives in relatively small nesting colonies.

Subspecies

*''H. v. chapmani'' Donisthorpe, 1937 *''H. v. rugosus'' (Mayr, 1862)

Description

The following is a taxonomic description of the ant based on C. T. Bingham's ''

The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma ''The Fauna of British India'' (short title) with long titles including ''The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma'', and ''The Fauna of British India Including the Remainder of the Oriental Region'' is a series of scientific books t ...

'' (Hymenoptera, Volume 2): * 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 ''Harpegnathos saltator'', sometimes called the Indian jumping ant or Jerdon's jumping ant, is a species of ant found in India. They have long mandibles and have the ability to leap a few inches. They are large-eyed and active Predation, predato ...

''. * 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. * Multifunctional mandibles: The ant's mandible exhibits ''spatially-dependent morphology'' and ''bi-axial kinematics'', which collectively allows it to perform various daily labors from hunting and attacking to carefully caring for ant eggs. Regarding the spatially-dependent morphology, at the distal-to-middle part, the mandible has double-rowed, non-parallel teeth responsible for powerful clamping. At the proximal part, the mandible has a smooth concavity that is solely used for gently gripping ant eggs. On the other hand, the mandible rotates about two orthogonal axes, changing the mandibular distance and configuration simultaneously. The spatially-dependent morphology and bi-axial kinematics endow the ant mandible multifunctionality. They build their nests with the entrance hole on sloped earth under forest shade. The nests have about 8 to 70 individuals in multiple chambers. Workers and queens mostly stayed in the upper chamber while nest chambers are below them and these disc-shaped chambers are connected by a single thin column or funnel with a hole just enough for one ant to pass through. Workers are known to lay infertile trophic eggs which are laid for feeding the reproductives.

References

External links

* Ponerinae Hymenoptera of Asia Insects described in 1858 {{Ponerinae-stub