Odontomachus malignus Fr. Smith

Wilson EO, 1959, Studies on the ant fauna of Melanesia V. The tribe Odontomachini., Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 120, pp. 483-510 : 495

Odontomachus malignus Fr. Smith

(Figs. 3 ; 4, no. 9)

Odontomachus malignus Fr. Smith , 1859, J. Proc. Linn. Soe. London, Zool., 3:144, worker. Type locality: Aru. Emery, 1887, Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova, 4:429; distribution. Kutter, 1934, Mitt. Schweiz. Ent. Ges., 15:472. Donisthorpe, 1940, Entomologist, 73 :107, redescription of holotype.

Odontomachus tuberculatus Boger , 1861, Beri. Ent. Zeitschr., 5:28-30, worker. Type locality: unknown. NEW SYNONYMY (provisional). Donisthorpe, 1940, Entomologist, 73:107, worker.

Odontomachus malignus subsp. tuberculatus, Mann , 1919, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 63:305-306, fig. 13, worker.

Material examined. SANTA CRUZ : Graciosa Bay (W. M. Mann). Emery (1887) records this species from Sarawak, Celebes , and New Guinea (Sorong), while Kutter (1934) records it from Jacquinot Bay, on the southern coast of New Britain.

Taxonomic note. Roger’s tuberculatus is probably conspecific with malignus . The only difference that can be gleaned from the original description is in the orientation of the mesonotal striation , which is said to be horizontal in malignus and longitudinal in tuberculatus (Mann, 1919). However, the distinction is doubtful . In Mann’s single nest series of “tuberculatus” from Santa Cruz the orientation of mesonotal striae actually varies widely, from longitudinal to oblique.

Ecological notes. This species, which ranges from Borneo to the Santa Cruz Islands, appears to be a normal inhabitant of the littoral zone. Mann says of his Solomons collections, "I found this species only once, at Graciosa Bay, where workers were moving in and out of the crevices of a large block of coral on the beach. Mr. Harry Hall, who brought me specimens from Simoli on South Malaita, states that he found it nesting there under the same conditions." According to Kutter (1934), H. Hediger found workers of malignus at Jacquinot Bay, New Britain, foraging 100 meters out in the intertidal zone during low tide ! These individuals were running among the coral rocks and far from the normal foraging ranges of other ant species.