Echinopla pallipes Smith, 1857

Zettel, Herbert & Laciny, Alice, 2015, Contributions to the taxonomy of the ant genus Echinopla Smith, 1857 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae), Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 62 (1), pp. 101-121 : 108-109

Taxon classification Animalia Hymenoptera Formicidae

Echinopla pallipes Smith, 1857 Fig. 26

Material examined.

2 workers (syntypes?; NHMW) from unknown locality, G. Mayr Collection (see Notes); 1 worker (SCW) from Borneo, Sarawak, Gunung Mulu National Park, dipterocarp forest, 4°02 ’30” N; 114°52 ’15” E, 23-26.X.2009, leg. D.M. Sorger; 1 worker (MCB) from the same area, Camp 1, 4°02 ’29” N; 114°49 ’08” E, 3.VI.2006, leg. D. Mezger (C 001862); 1 worker (UKL) from Sabah, Poring Spring, lower montane mixed dipterocarp forest,> 650 m as.l., on Aporusa sp., 20.V.1992, fogging, leg. A. Floren; 1 worker (NHMW) from Sabah, Poring Spring, lower montane mixed dipterocarp forest,> 650 m a.s.l., on Xanthophyllum affinis , 21.V.1992, fogging, leg. A. Floren; 1 worker (UKL) from Borneo, Sabah, Poring Hot Spring, leg. A. Malsch.

Notes.

Echinopla pallipes is similar to Echinopla melanarctos , but smaller (TL ca. 6 mm), and has pale legs, lower tubercles on head and mesosoma and strongly reduced tubercles on gaster tergite 1 (only anteriorly present). It differs from Echinopla tritschleri and Echinopla cherapunjiensis by the posterior position of the eyes, and from Echinopla circulus sp. n. by the sculpture of the gaster tergite 1 (comp. Figs 24 and 26). See also notes for Echinopla circulus sp. n.

Smith (1857) described Echinopla pallipes from Sarawak, Borneo. One type specimen (holotype?) is in the Oxford University Museum and has been illustrated in Antweb (2015). Mayr (1862) published some descriptive notes on two specimens (now in NHMW) that he had received from Frederick Smith. Their locality is unclear, but considering the rareness of collections from Borneo in the 19th century they could be syntypes. These three specimens and the two examined specimens from Poring, Sabah, clearly belong to the same species. One further specimen collected by Miss D.M. Sorger in Sarawak is slightly larger and has longer lateral spines on the petiole, but otherwise agrees fairly well in the sculptural details.

Besides the examined specimens from Sarawak, the specimen from Kalimantan Barat in the Indonesian part of Borneo, illustrated by Antweb (2015) and a worker from the Gunung Mulu National Park in northern Sarawak, illustrated by Antbase (2015) and deposited in the Natural History Museum London, can be safely identified as Echinopla pallipes . However, Echinopla pallipes is apparently not restricted to Borneo. General and Alpert (2012) report and illustrate a specimen from Luzon, the Philippines, which agrees well with the type in structural details. A record from Sulawesi ( “Celebes”) by Smith (1862) remains unconfirmed.