Dorymyrmex paranensis Santschi 1922

Wild, Alexander L., 2007, A catalogue of the ants of Paraguay (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), Zootaxa 1622, pp. 1-55 : 43

Dorymyrmex paranensis Santschi 1922 a. NEW STATUS.

Dorymyrmex pyramicus subsp. flavus var. paranensis Forel 1911b: 285 . Unavailable name.

Dorymyrmex (Conomyrma) pyramicus var. paranensis Santschi 1922a: 372 . First available use of paranensis Forel 1911 b. [w syntypes examined, MHNG; San Bernadino, Cordillera, Paraguay (Fiebrig)].

Conomyrma pyramicus var. paranensis (Santschi) . Kempf 1972: 79. Dorymyrmex (Conomyrma) pyramicus paranensis Santschi. Bolton et al. 2006: catalogue.

Dorymyrmex paranensis , described by Forel from Fiebrig’s Paraguayan material and known from additional recent collections in eastern Parguay, can be distinguished from all other Dorymyrmex in the region by the following combination of character states: compound eyes relatively small, about the same diameter as the distance between the frontal carinae; head of largest workers relatively broad, about as broad as long; head, mesosoma, and anterior gastric terga clear yellow to yellow-orange in color; and psammophore present but weakly developed. This ant shares the same small eye size as the common D. brunneus , but that species has a more strongly produced propodeal tooth, a more angular mesonotum, and a dark brown body color. The other common light-colored Dorymyrmex in Paraguay, the chacoan species D. exsanguis , is more gracile ; the head of the largest workers at least 1.2x as long as broad and supports a fully-developed psammophore bearing setae roughly equal in length to the head.

The identity of Dorymyrmex pyramicus (Roger 1863a) , described from Bahia, Brazil, is unclear. Snelling (1995) discusses the problems with this and other names in this taxonomically problematic genus. Apparently, no subsequent taxonomists have seen Roger’s material and Roger’s description of D. pyramicus does not provide enough detail to discern anything other than a bicolored red/brown Dorymyrmex . Kusnezov (1952b) and Fabiana Cuezzo (pers comm.) use the name for a robust, bicolored, large-eyed species that I have collected near Buenos Aires, Argentina but that has not yet been recorded from Paraguay. In any case, I find no justification for retaining the current trinomen given the uncertainty of D. pyramicus .