Acanthoponera brouni subsp. kirki

Wheeler, W. M., 1923, Ants of the genera Myopias and Acanthoponera., Psyche 30, pp. 175-192 : 184-186

Subsp, kirki subsp, nov. (Fig. 4.) Worker. Length 2.3-3 mm.

Smaller than the typical form of the species, which measures 3.2-3.5 mm. The head is not coarsely but very finely and indistinctly rugulose. The declivity of the epinotum is strongly concave, its lateral marginations enlarged above to form bluntbut distinct teeth. The color differs from that of the type as

Fig 4. Acanthoponera (Anacanthoponera) brouni Forel subsp , kirki subsp. nov. a, head of worker from above; b, thorax and abdomen of same in profile; c. thorax and abdomen of ergatomorphic female in profile. follows; Body ferruginous red; mandibles, clypeus, mesonotum and gaster brownish yellow; dorsal surface of epinotum, the petiole and posterior borders of postpetiole and gastric segments dark brown; сохаз and legs pale yellow, knees and tarsi reddish.

Female. Length 3.2 mm.

Wingless and ergatomorphic, differing from the worker only in its slightly larger size, in possessing small ocelli, in having the marginations of the epinotal declivity more rounded and less dentate above and in the larger abdomen, the postpetiole and first gastric segment especially being more voluminous. The color of the body is also different, the pronotum being darker then the meso- and epinotum, the petiole, postpetiole and gaster reddish brown like the pronotum, with the posterior borders of the segments brownish yellow. The anterior is somewhat paler than the posterior half ot the head.

Described from numerous workers and a single female which I took Sept. 5, 1914 from a single colony, comprising about 100 individuals in the Waitakari Forest, near Auckland, New Zealand. The ants were nesting under a dead branch of one of the huge kaori trees ( Agathis australis ), which was lying on an exposed root of the tree from which it had fallen. When first disturbed the workers were quite active but on being touched curled up and "feigned death". Similar behavior was observed by Hetschko in the Brazilian A. dentinodis , according to Mayr. The single female, described above, was evidently the mother queen of the colony, which had a number of small larvai. These resembled the larvai of Ectatomma in being smooth, that is nontuberculate, and in being covered with dense, soft hairs. The subspecies is dedicated to Prof. H. B. Kirk of Victoria University, Wellington, the memory of whose kindness during my sojourn in New Zealand I shall always cherish.

The occurence of a single ergatomorphic female as the mother queen of kirki is of interest, because so few females of Acanthoponera have been taken, and because in the Neotropical dentinodis , dolo and mucronata all the recorded individuals were of the typical winged type. But Emery in 1906 found two individuals like the workers but with more voluminous abdomens among specimens of the Chilean carinifrons. One of these, with the larger abdomen, was paler in color than the workers, with higher petiole and more pubescent legs and gaster. He regarded this individual as an ergatoid female and the other as a form transitional to the normal worker. That he was correct in his assumption is shown by the foregoing observations on kirki . Whether such ergatomorphic females ever co-exist with winged forms in the same species or colony will have to be determined by future observations.

I insert here a list of the American species and varieties of Acanthoponera with their synonymy and known distribution: