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Dacatria
| Dacatria | |
|---|---|
| |
| Dacatria templaris | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Myrmicinae |
| Tribe: | Crematogastrini |
| Alliance: | Mayriella genus group |
| Genus: | Dacatria Rigato, 1994 |
| Type species | |
| Dacatria templaris | |
| Diversity | |
| 1 species (Species Checklist, Species by Country)
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The single species of the genus is only known from a few collections. Rigato (1994) reported the collector (Dacatra) of the single type specimen stated the ant was found "in a nearly subtropical environment with bamboo trees growing on the southern slope of mountains, at rather low altitude, (500-1000 m)." Collections have also been made in evergreen forest.
| At a Glance | • Monotypic |
Photo Gallery
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Identification
Eguchi, Bui and Yamane (2011) - The worker of the single species in the genus has the following features.
Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view subrectangular, with a shallow central longitudinal furrow; preoccipital region forming a distinct carina which surrounds the pronotal neck; frontal lobe well developed and raised; frontal carina and antennal scrobe absent; median portion of clypeus raised, with nearly vertical anterior face; median clypeal seta absent; lateral portion of clypeus modified into a distinct ridge or wall in front of antennal insertion; posteromedian portion of clypeus narrowly inserted between frontal lobes; antenna 12-segmented with indistinct 3-segmented club; eye small, convex well laterad, located before midlength of side of head in full-face view; mandible triangular; masticatory margin of mandible with apical and two preapical teeth, followed by two small teeth (5 teeth in total); promesonotum domed, with a pair of rounded and low humeral tubercles; promesonotal suture absent dorsally; metanotal groove well defined, with a small prominence in front of groove; propodeal spine long; propodeal lobe developed, round; petiole with long peduncle and low node; postpetiole short and high; gastral shoulder absent; sting simple; standing hairs absent from dorsum of body (simple standing hairs present at apex of gaster and on mandible, and slightly clavate hairs on third segment of gaster).
The worker of Dacatria is easily distinguished from that of other myrmicine genera known from Vietnam by the morphology of lateral portion of clypeus and humeral tubercles of the promesonotum.
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See images of species within this genus |
Keys including this Genus
Distribution
Known from China, Republic of Korea and Vietnam.
Distribution and Richness based on AntMaps
Species by Region
Number of species within biogeographic regions, along with the total number of species for each region.
| Afrotropical Region | Australasian Region | Indo-Australian Region | Malagasy Region | Nearctic Region | Neotropical Region | Oriental Region | Palaearctic Region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total Species | 2841 | 1736 | 3045 | 932 | 835 | 4379 | 1741 | 2862 |
Biology
Life History Traits
- Mean colony size: ? (Greer et al., 2021)
- Compound colony type: not parasitic (Greer et al., 2021)
- Nest site: hypogaeic (Greer et al., 2021)
- Diet class: ? (Greer et al., 2021)
- Foraging stratum: subterranean/leaf litter (Greer et al., 2021)
Castes
This monotypic genus was described from a single worker of Dacatria templaris. A queen has been collected (USNM) but has not been described. Males are unknown.
Queen
- The following images are provided by AntWeb
Head view
Side view
Top view
Specimen labels
Morphology
Worker Morphology
Explore: Show all Worker Morphology data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.
• Antennal segment count: 12 • Antennal club: 3 • Palp formula: 3,2 • Spur formula: 0,0 • Eyes: 2-10 ommatidia • Pronotal Spines: dentiform • Mesonotal Spines: absent; dentiform • Propodeal Spines: present • Petiolar Spines: absent • Caste: none or weak • Sting: present • Metaplural Gland: present • Cocoon: absent
Male Morphology
- Explore: Show all Male Morphology data or Search these data. See also a list of all data tables or learn how data is managed.
• Caste unknown
Phylogeny
| Myrmicinae |
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See Phylogeny of Myrmicinae for details.
Nomenclature
The following information is derived from Barry Bolton's Online Catalogue of the Ants of the World.
- DACATRIA [Myrmicinae: Stenammini]
- Dacatria Rigato, 1994b: 155. Type-species: Dacatria templaris, by original designation.
Unless otherwise noted the text for the remainder of this section is reported from the publication that includes the original description.
Dacatria lacks some peculiar characters of tribes like Tetramoriini and Myrmicini. For instance Dacatria lacks an apical lamelliform appendage on the sting and the clypeus is not tetramoriine in shape; also it has no tibial spurs on second and third pairs of legs nor an anteroventral process of the petiole as in Myrmica and allied taxa. Besides these features Dacatria has a different body structure from members of those tribes.
The morphological similarity to the Attini is considerable, but the zoogeography suggest its exclusion from these. Major differences from the true fungus-growers are 12 segmented antennae. lack of squarniform, or other kind of dorsal body hairs: mandibles with shorter masticatory border.
Description
Worker Diagnosis
Terrestrial (?) myrmicine ant with the following characters:
- Palp formula 3. 2 (counted in situ).
- Mandibles triangular. five-toothed. The teeth increase in size from the basalmost to the apical. First, second and third tooth (counted from the basal) are separated from one another by a diastema.
- Clypeus raised in the middle; its lateral portions are shaped as blunt crests which surround the antennal insertions in front, delimiting two somewhat deep sockets. The crests are the continuations of the diverging edges of the flat median clypeal portion. Anteriorly the clypeus appears obliquely truncate, and it has a sharp and hardly prominent convex edge which is obtusely angled in the middle. Posteriorly the clypeus is narrow and is deeply inserted between the frontal lobes. Clypeal setae absent.
- Frontal triangle poorly defined.
- Frontal lobes surround the posterior part of the clypeus; they are strongly raised in comparison with it. Their borders are slightly converging in front.
- Frontal carinae absent.
- Head with a shallow central furrow which is deeper and wider in its centre; posteriorly it gets narrower joining the occiput without a break. The latter appears almost truncate in side view. The furrow is delimited by two faint longitudinal prominences which posteriorly diverge nearly at right angles.
- Antennae 12-segmented, with a poorly defined club of three. The scape is robust, and approximately of the same thickness throughout its length; it is clearly bent and barely thinner near the base.
- Eyes small and quite convex; they are placed a little in front of the midlength of the sides of the head. No more than five ommatidia in their longest row.
- Occiput with a low backwards projecting nuchal border which surrounds the pronotal "neck".
- Pronotum bears two rounded low tubercles in the middle.
- Mesonotum with a smaller raised tubercle posteriorly.
- Metapleural lobes present.
- Metanotal groove well defined and deep in profile because of the presence of the mesonotal tubercle and of the raised anteriormost portion of the basal face of the propodeum.
- Propodeum with two backward directed, sharp, diverging and a little apically upturned spines which are about as long as the distance between their tips.
- Propodeal spiracles small and nearly circular. Their openings are directed backwards from two low and blunt prominences of the propodeal sides.
- Petiole with an elongate peduncle and a nearly flat-domed low node. The spiracles are circular and very small, they are placed a little behind the midlength of the peduncle. Postpetiole higher and wider than the petiolar node. It abruptly falls on the basis of the gaster.
- Tibial spurs absent from second and third pairs of legs.
- Sting present and simple.
- Hairs absent from the dorsum of the body. Simple hairs are present at the apex of the gaster and on the mandibles. Slightly clavate hairs on third segment of the gaster. Pubescence short, scattered; it is visible only on the appendices and on the gaster.
- Integument thick, body appearance dull, gaster shining. Sculpture coarse and irregular, prevalently rugose or rugulose on head and alitrunk. Colour brick red throughout the body; gaster, legs, mandibles and funiculi have a yellowish tinge.
References
- Blaimer, B.B., Ward, P.S., Schultz, T.R., Fisher, B.L., Brady, S.G. 2018. Paleotropical diversification dominates the evolution of the hyperdiverse ant tribe Crematogastrini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Insect Systematics and Diversity 2(5): 3; 1-14 (doi:10.1093/isd/ixy013).
- Bolton, B. 1994. Identification guide to the ant genera of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 222 pp. (page 106, Dacatria in Myrmicinae, Stenammini)
- Bolton, B. 1995b. A new general catalogue of the ants of the world. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 504 pp. (page 168, Dacatria in Myrmicinae, Stenammini)
- Bolton, B. 2003. Synopsis and Classification of Formicidae. Mem. Am. Entomol. Inst. 71: 370pp (page 203, Dacatria in Myrmicinae, Stenammini)
- Cantone S. 2018. Winged Ants, The queen. Dichotomous key to genera of winged female ants in the World. The Wings of Ants: morphological and systematic relationships (self-published).
- Eguchi, K., Bui, T.V. & Yamane, S. 2011. Generic synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam. Part 1 – Myrmicinae and Pseudomyrmecinae. Zootaxa 2878: 1-61.
- Rigato, F. 1994a. Dacatria templaris gen. n., sp. n. A new myrmicine ant from the Republic of Korea. Dtsch. Entomol. Z. (N.F.) 41: 155-162 (page 155, 161, Dacatria as genus; Dacatria in Myrmicinae, Proattini)