Anochetus graeffei Mayr

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 : 507-508

Anochetus graeffei Mayr

Anochetus Graeffei Mayr, 1870, Verh. zool.-bot. Ges. Wien, 20:961, worker.

Type locality: Upolu, Samoa.

Anochetus punctiventris Mayr , 1878, op. cit., 28:15-16, worker. Type locality : Calcutta area, India. NEW SYNONYMY. (Syntype examined - Emery Coll.)

Anochetus punctiventris subsp. oceanicus Emery , 1897, Természetr. Fiiz., 20:597, worker. Original localities: Friedrich-Wilhemshaf en (Aitape), N-E. New Guinea. NEW SYNONYMY. (Holotype examined - Emery Coll.)

Anochetus amati Karawajew , 1925, Konowia, 4:285, fig. 8, quoen. Type locality: Wammar I., Aru Archipelago. NEW SYNONYMY (provisional ).

Anochetus minutus Karawajew , 1925, ibid., pp. 288-289, fig. 10, worker, queen. Type locality: Segamat, Johore, Malaya. NEW SYNONYMY (provisional).

Anochetus minutus, Yasumatsu , 1940, Annot. Zool. Jap., 19:313, fig. 2, worker, distribution.

Material examined. N-E. NEW GUINEA: Aitape ( oceanicus Emery holotype) ; Didiman Creek, Lae (Wilson, no. 690). SOLOMON ISLANDS : Maravo Lagoon, New Georgia (W. M. Mann) ; Auki, Malaita (Mann) ; Wainoni Bay and Pamua, San Cristovai (Mann). NEW HEBRIDES: Ratard Plantation, Luganville, Espiritu Santo (Wilson, no. 332). FIJI ISLANDS: Lasema, Vanua Levu (Mann); Somo Somo, Taviuni (Mann). NEW CALEDONIA: Chapeau Gendarme (Wilson, no. 62); Mt. Mou (Wilson) ; "S.E. New Caledonia" (N. L. II. Krauss). This species is found through large parts of southeastern Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Queensland. Very probably it has been distributed through part of this range through the inadvertent agency of man.

Taxonomic notes. During the course of the present study the author has examined large amounts of Asian, Melanesian, and Australian material determined by earlier specialists variously as graeffei and punctiventris , without being able to distinguish two species on the basis of Mayr’s original diagnostic characters or any other characters. There appears to be but a single relatively variable species. In particular, sculpturing of the first gastric tergite, traditionally stressed in earlier descriptions, varies gradually from smooth and shining (extreme “graeffei” form) to coarsely punctate and subopaque ( “punctiventris” form). The same conclusion has been reached with respect to the supposed distinction between punctiventris and its subspecies oceanicus . A few differences observed between types of the two forms in the Emery Collection, involving, especially, total size and petiolar node shape, are connected in other series by intergradient forms.

A. amati Karawajew was described without reference to A. graeffei , but its characters seem to fit the latter species in detail. A. minutus Karawajew was compared with amati in the original description; it is supposedly distinguished from that species by its smaller size and proportionately shorter mandibles. There seems to be no reason to suppose that it is anything more than an infraspecific variant of graeffei .

Ecological notes. Both the author’s New Guinea and New Hebrides collections consist of stray workers taken during the day from the floor of lowland rain forests. At Chapeau Gendarme , New Caledonia, a small colony was found nesting beneath a rock in a clearing.