Anochetus cato Forel

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 : 504-505

Anochetus cato Forel

(Fig. 2)

Anochetus Cato Forel, 1901, Mitt. Zool. Mus. Berlin, 2(1, b) ; 6, worker. Type locality: Lowon Valley, near Balum, New Britain.

Anochetus cato var. subfasciolatus Mann , 1919, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., 63:301, worker, queen, male. Type locality: Malapaina I., Three Sisters Group, Solomons. (Syntypes examined - MCZ.) NEW SYNONYMY. Odontomachus rossi Donisthorpe , 1947, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., (11)14:180- 187, worker, queen. Type locality: Maffin Bay, Neth. New Guinea. Nec Anochetus rossi Donisthorpe , 1949, op. cit., (12)1:747. (Syntypes examined - CAS, MCZ.) NEW SYNONYMY.

Material examined. NETH. NEW GUINEA : Maffin Bay (syntypes of Odontomachus rossi and one additional nest series).

N-E. NEW GUINEA: Bolingbangeng-Nganduo, 900-1000 m., alate queen (Wilson, no. 731). PAPUA: Bisianumu, 500 m. (Wilson, nos. 659, 660, 667). NEW BRITAIN: Keravat, 60 m., Gazelle Pen. (J. L. Gressitt). SOLOMONS: Rendova; Malapaina ; Pulakora, Santa Isabel ; Pawa, Ugi ; Auki, Malaita ; Wai-ai, San Cristovai (all W. M. Mann).

Taxonomic notes. The available material of this species shows noteworthy geographic variation in color, which can be outlined as follows. New Britain and Rendova: body and appendages concolorous reddish yellow. Ugi: body medium reddish brown, legs yellowish brown. San Cristovai: body dark reddish brown, legs yellowish brown. Malapaina and Santa Isabel: body very dark reddish brown, nearly black, the legs medium brown. Malaita: body and appendages intermediate in shade between the San Cristovai and Malapaina-Santa Isabel series. Bisianumu, Papua: body very dark reddish brown, almost black, legs yellowish to medium brown. Bolingbangeng, N-E. New Guinea: head, alitrunk, and petiole very dark reddish brown, almost black, gaster somewhat lighter in shade, appendages medium brown. Maffin Bay, Neth. New Guinea: head very dark reddish brown, almost black, alitrunk medium to moderately dark reddish brown ; petiole and gaster contrasting dark yellowish brown ; legs light reddish brown.

Of particular interest is the possibility revealed in the above data of the existence of graded inter-island variation in the eastern Solomons. As more material becomes available from over its entire range, this species should prove an especially fruitful subject for a thorough analysis of geographic variation.

Ecological notes. At Bisianumu a small colony of this species was found nesting in a large, " passalid-stage " log on the floor of second-growth foothills rain forest. Workers from other nests were found foraging on the forest floor during the daytime. On Rendova, Mann (1919) also found a colony nesting in a rotting log, presumably in lowland rain forest. Winged queens were collected in a nest on September 9, 1944, at Maffin Bay by Dr. E. S. Ross.