Abstract
A new species of the rare ant genus Metapone, Metapone murphyisp. nov., is described based on museum material consisting of a single nest series (workers, queens, and males) collected from a decayed coconut palm stump on Pulau Sakra, previously an offshore island south of mainland Singapore. Workers can be distinguished from other named congeners mainly by the following characters: 1) subpetiolar lamella subrectangular; 2) short median longitudinal ventral subpetiolar edge and roundly obtuse posteroventral subpetiolar angle; 3) outer margin of posterior subpetiolar face in posteroventral view forming a continuous, U-shaped, translucent, laminate carina; and 4) petiole subtrapezoidal in dorsal view with extended blunt tooth-like posterolateral corners. Detailed description and illustrations of male genitalia of the genus are given for the first time. The key to Asian species of Metapone is updated to include the new species.
Highlights
The myrmicine genus Metapone Forel, 1911 is known from tropical Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, archipelagic Southeast Asia, Melanesia east to Fiji and Eastern Australia (Guénard et al 2017)
There are no past records from continental Southeast Asia (Taylor and Alpert 2016)
We describe a new species, Metapone murphyi sp. nov., from Singapore, based on a nest series which was found stored in ethanol as part of the Zoological Reference Collections (ZRC), in the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (National University of Singapore)
Summary
The myrmicine genus Metapone Forel, 1911 is known from tropical Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, archipelagic Southeast Asia, Melanesia east to Fiji and Eastern Australia (Guénard et al 2017). (1) Body relatively small-sized (HL 1.28–1.33, HW 0.85–0.93); (2) posterolateral corners of head faintly striated and shining; (3) petiolar node subrectangular in lateral view, elongate-subtrapezoidal in dorsal view, more than twice as long as its anterior margin; (4) lateral face of petiolar node substriate-reticulate with few long diagonally-placed carinae; (5) subpetiolar lamella, subpetiolar edge and posterior subpetiolar face as in the worker.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call