Ponera Latreille, 1804

Eguchi, Katsuyuki, Viet, Bui Tuan & Yamane, Seiki, 2014, Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part II — Cerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae, Zootaxa 3860 (1), pp. 1-46 : 39-40

Ponera Latreille, 1804

Taxonomy. The genus Ponera is assigned to the tribe Ponerini ( Bolton 2003) .

Morphology. Workers of Vietnamese species have the following features (see also Schmidt & Shattuck 2014):

Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view subrectangular; frontal lobes horizontal, separated from each other by a longitudinal sulcus; antennal scrobe absent; anteromedian margin of clypeus convex; mandible subtriangular; its distinct apical tooth followed by a series of small teeth or serrate margin; basal portion of mandible without a distinct circular or near-circular pit or fovea dorsolaterally; antenna 12-segmented, gradually incrassate from segment III to XII; eye present, but often reduced (consisting of one or a few ommatidia); eye located on side of head close to mandibular insertion; mesosoma in lateral view with a flat or weakly arched dorsal outline; promesonotal suture completely separating pronotum from mesonotum; mesopleuron hardly demarcated from mesonotum by a suture, and weakly from metapleuron by a suture; metanotal groove absent or present dorsally as a weak transverse sulcus; propodeum unarmed; orifice of propodeal spiracle oval; propodeal lobe indistinct; outer surface of middle tibia with fine normal pilosity only; apicoventral part of foretibia often with a thin, simple spur behind a large pectinate spur; apicoventral part of mid and hind tibia with a single pectinate spur; petiole without anterior peduncle; petiolar node in lateral view high; subpetiolar process developed well as a lobe, anteriorly with a conspicuous round depression, posteroventrally with a pair of acute angles; girdling constriction between abdominal segments III and IV relatively distinct; abdominal sternite III with an U-shaped anteroventral ridge below helcium; sting well developed.

Differentiation. The worker of Ponera is in general appearance most similar to that of Hypoponera and Cryptopone , but in the latter two genera the subpetiolar process lacks an anterior round depression and a pair of posterolateral angles. Furthermore, in the worker of Cryptopone , the basal portion of mandible has a distinct circular or near-circular pit or fovea dorsolaterally, and the outer surface of midtibia bears thickened peg-like setae mixed with finer normal pilosity. The worker of Ponera is also similar to that of Parvaponera , but in the latter the apex of metatibia ventrally has a simple spur in front of a large pectinate spur.

Vietnamese species (5 spp.).

P. sp. eg-1 [= sp. 17 of SKY in Yamane et al. (2003)] (Chua Yen Tu, Cuc Phuong, Pu Mat, Sa Pa, Tay Yen Tu, Van Ban). P. sp. eg-2 (Pu Mat, Tay Yen Tu, Van Ban).

P. sp. eg-3 (Ba Vi, Tay Yen Tu, Van Ban).

P. eg-4 [cf. kohmoku Terayama, 1996] (Chua Yen Tu, Tam Dao).

P. sp. eg-5 [= sp. 28 of SKY in Yamane et al. (2003)] (Cuc Phuong, Sa Pa).

Bionomics. Ponera spp. usually occur in well-developed forests and other wooded habitats. They nest in rotting log and wood fragments, and in litter and soil.