Cephalotes grandinosus (Smith, 1860)

Oliveira, Aline Machado, Powell, Scott & Feitosa, Rodrigo Machado, 2021, A taxonomic study of the Brazilian turtle ants (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Cephalotes), Revista Brasileira de Entomologia 65 (3), No. e 20210028, pp. 1-52 : 31-32

The grandinosus species group

( Figs. 33 , 34 , 35 )

The grandinosus groupwas first proposed by De Andrade and Baroni Urbani (1999) including five species: C. persimplex , described by De AndradeinDe Andradeand Baroni Urbani (1999), C. klugi , knownonly for the gyne, C. persimilis , C. grandinosus , and C. foliaceus . These last three composed the formerpinelii group by Kempf (1952), along with C. incertus , C. maculatus , C. pinelii , andC. scutulatus .

Grandinosus and pinelii are sister groups in the morphological phylogeny (De Andrade and Baroni Urbani, 1999, see their Fig. 24 ), sharing many characters, as the strongly dorsoventrally flattened body, dorsum of mesosoma continuous, and lamellarexpansions on mesosoma, petiole, postpetioleand gaster. Both groups differ only by the presence of a lamella on hind femora and the lighter color in grandinosus .

In the molecularphylogeny (Price et al., 2016, see their Fig.S3 ), the grandinosus andpinelii groups arerecovered asparaphyletic. Cephalotes foliaceus ( grandinosus group) is sister to C. sp. 2 (here described as C. mariadeandrade new species, of thepinelii group). The clade formed by the otherspecies of the grandinosus group ( C. grandinosuş C. klugi , C. persimplex and C. persimilis ) is the sister group of a clade formed by some of the previously designated species of the pinelii group ( C. maculatus , C. liepini , C. nilpiei , C. pinelii and C. pileini ) ( Fig. 54 ).

The morphologicalsimilarities and phylogeneticassociation between speciesof the pinelii andgrandinosus groupssuggest theylikely represent asingle evolutionarylineage ( Fig. 54 ). Evenbeing paraphyletic, these groups are morphologically diagnosable, thus we kept it separate here, since we have not examined the species occurring outside Brazil in this study, what would help to better understand the relationships and limits between these species and redefine these groups.

Diagnosis: In workers, body strongly flattened dorsoventrally. In dorsal view, dorsum of mesosoma continuous, with lamellar lateral expansions. In workers and soldiers, hindfemora with a ventral and/or dorsal lamellar crest, usually crenulate and narrow ( Fig.2k , 3k ). Petiole and postpetiole with lamellar lateral expansions.

Brazilian species of grandinosus group

Cephalotes grandinosus (Smith, 1860)

Obsolete combination: Cryptocerus grandinosus = Cephalotes grandinosus nevadensis (Forel, 1912) Obsolete combination:Cryptocerus grandinosus nevadensis

Cephalotes klugi (Emery, 1894) Obsolete combination: Cryptocerus klugi

Cephalotes persimilis De Andrade, 1999

Cephalotes persimplex De Andrade, 1999

Key to the identification of Brazilian species of the grandinosus group of Cephalotes based on workers

( Figs. 33 a-d)

Note: Cephalotes klugi is known only for the gyne.

1 In dorsalview, anterior portion of thelamellar expansions of the gaster flat, continuouswiththegastraltergite ( Fig.33c )......................... C. grandinosus

1’ Indorsal view, anteriorportion of thelamellar expansionsof thegaster bentdorsally, notcontinuous withthegastral tergite ( Fig.33d ).......................2

2 Body hairs appressed, relatively broad and uniform, without a submedian constriction ( Fig.33a )............................................... C. persimplex

2’ Body hairsrelatively narrow, with a submedian constriction, which is not appressed to the body likethe remain partof the hair ( Fig.33b ).......... .................................................................................................................... C. persimilis

Key to the identification of Brazilian species of the grandinosus group of Cephalotes based on soldiers

( Figs. 34 a-f)

Note: Cephalotes klugi is known only for the gyne.

1 In frontal view, cephalic disc areolate ( Fig. 34a ).......... C. grandinosus

1’ Infrontal view, cephalic disc foveate, space between foveae microalveolate ( Fig. 34b ).....................................................................................2

2 Inlateral view, hairs oflateral faceofhead abundant, most hairstouching eachother ( Fig.34c ). Hairsof headsubspatulate ( Fig.34d )......... C. persimplex

2’ Inlateral view, hairsoflateral faceofheadsparse,hairs nevertouching each other ( Fig.34f ). Hairsof headsubrectangular ( Fig.34e )............ C. persimilis

Figures

Figure 2 Workers of Cephalotes. A: C. atratus (atratus group) [CASENT0178627]. B: C. depressus (depressus group) [CASENT0173671]. C and F: C. pusillus (pusillus group) [CASENT0173703].D and I:C.pellans (pallens group) [CASENT0173697].E:C.solidus (solidus group).G:C.cordatus (depressus group) [CASENT0922596].H:C.frigidus (angustus group) [UFV-LABECOL-004442]. J: C. basalis (basalis group). K: C. grandinosus (grandinosus group) [CASENT0922544]. L: C. maculatus (pinelii group) [CASENT0909295]. M: C. trichophorus (coffeae group). N and R: C. conspersus (angustus group) [R: CASENT0922530]. O: C. clypeatus (clypeatus group) [CASENT0173669]. P: C. umbraculatus (umbraculatus group) [CASENT0922582]. Q: C. jheringi (fiebrigi group). fle: femoral lamellar expansions. ge: gastral expansions. pd: posterodorsal spine. ple: propodeal lamellar expansions. ps: propodeal spine. pv: posteroventral spine.vle: vertexal lamellar expansions.

Figure 3 Soldiers of Cephalotes. A: C. decoloratus (pallens group) [CASENT0909299]. B: C. angustus (angustus group) [CASENT0909276]. C: C. basalis (basalis group). D and I: C. minutus (pusillus group) [CASENT0173691]. E: C. quadratus (fiebrigi group) [CASENT0173705]. F and P: C. umbraculatus (umbraculatus group) [CASENT0922582]. G and O: C. targionii (angustus group) [CASENT0173708]. H: C. nilpiei (pinelii group). J: C. borgmeieri (depressus group) [CASENT0173664]. K: C. grandinosus (grandinosus group). L: C.pinelii (pinelii group). M: C. jheringi (fiebrigi group). N: C.clypeatus (clypeatus group) [CASENT0173669].

Figure 24 Distribution map of coffeae group in Brazil.Black circle:material examined. Red square: new record.

Figure 33 Workers of grandinosus group. A: C.persimplex [CASENT0922544]. B and D: C. persimilis [B: CASENT0922542]. C: C. grandinosus.

Figure 34 Soldiers of grandinosus group. A: C. grandinosus [CASENT0173699].B, C and D: C. persimplex [B, D: CASENT0922543].E and F: C. persimilis [E: CASENT0922541].

Figure 35 Distribution maps of grandinosus group in Brazil. White stars: type locality. Black circles: material examined. Red squares: new records. Blue triangles: records not examined from literature. (Literature source:13, 19, 21, 27, 32, 40, 43, 45, 49, 59, 67, 70, 71, 76).

Figure54 Themaximum cladecredibility treefrom phylogenetic analysesperformed byPriceet al.(2016) basedonmorphologicalandmoleculardata.The tree has beentrimmedtoinclude onlythose species knownfromBrazil.Thelabelsforthespecies groupsfollowour proposals,including thesynonymies,andtheprevious namesforthesynonymized groupsareshown ingrey.