Hylomyrma villemantae Neves & Lacau, 2018

Ulysséa, Mônica Antunes, 2021, Taxonomic revision of the Neotropical ant genus Hylomyrma Forel, 1912 (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Myrmicinae), with the description of fourteen new species, Zootaxa 5055 (1), pp. 1-137 : 121-123

Hylomyrma villemantae Neves & Lacau, 2018

Figures 76 , 86 (map)

Hylomyrma villemantae Neves & Lacau, 2018: 203 (W). Holotype: BRAZIL: Bahia: Ibicuí, Serra das Piabas, 14°51′57.93″S, 40° 2′34.54″W, elev. 1070 m, 12.v.2017, Lacau S., Neves M.S., Rocha I.N., Oliveira M.L., Silveira B.A., Rodrigues F.S. cols., LBSA_SA_14015869 (1W) [CPDC] [examined by image]. Paratypes: same data as holotype, LBSA_SA_14016086, LBSA_SA_14016087, LBSA_SA_14016088, LBSA_SA_14016089, LBSA_SA_14016093, LBSA_SA_14016094, LBSA_SA_14016095, LBSA_SA_14016096, LBSA_SA_14016097 (9W) [ CPDC] [not examined] , LBSA_SA_14016091 (1W) [ CPDC] [examined by image] ; same locality as holotype, 02.v.2017, LBSA_SA_14016100, LBSA_SA_14016101, LBSA_SA_14016102 (3W) [according Neves & Lacau (2018) this material should be at MZSP, but it has not deposited there] [not examined] ; LBSA_SA_14016092, LBSA_SA_14016099, LBSA_SA_14016103 (3W) [ MPEG] [not examined] ; same locality as holotype, 29.vi.2008, Silva Jr M.R., Godinho L.B., Lacau S., Prado J.V., Ramos Lacau L.S. cols., LBSA_SA_14016104, LBSA_SA_14016105, LBSA_SA_14016109, LBSA_SA_14016110, LBSA_SA_14016111, LBSA_SA_14016115, LBSA_SA_14016116, LBSA_SA_14016117, LBSA_SA_14016118, LBSA_SA_14016119, LBSA_SA_14016120, LBSA_SA_14016123, LBSA_SA_14016124, LBSA_SA_14016125, LBSA_SA_14016126, LBSA_SA_14016128, LBSA_SA_14016129, LBSA_SA_14016162, LBSA_SA_14014791 (19W) [ CPDC] [not examined] , LBSA_SA_14011273 (1W) [ CPDC] [examined by image] ; LBSA_SA_14016106, LBSA_SA_14016107, LBSA_ SA_14016108 (3W) [ MZSP] [according Neves & Lacau (2018) this material should be at MZSP, but it was not deposited there] [not examined] ; LBSA_SA_14016112, LBSA_SA_14016113, LBSA_SA_14016114 (3W) [ MPEG] [not examined] ; 14°54′50.06′′S, 40°2′9.49″W, 951 m alt., 19.xi.2004, Jahyny B.J., Lacau S., Ramos Lacau L.S. cols, LBSA_SA_14011396, LBSA_SA_14011397 (2W) [ CPDC] [not examined].

Worker ( Fig. 76A–C ) Diagnosis. Regular and longitudinal striae on head dorsum diverge towards posterior margin, interspaces between striae smooth, striae crest smooth; mesosoma covered with concentric and elliptical, regular and thick striae; longitudinal striae on lateral of pronotum and mesepisternum in part continuing transversely on propodeum and in part continuing on propodeal spine; transverse carina inconspicuous; propodeal spine midsized; dorsal margin of petiole continuous, strongly convex, mesoventral surface unarmed; petiole, postpetiole, subpostpetiolar process, profemur posterior surface, protibia extensor surface and tergum of first gastral segment smooth; subpostpetiolar process weak, convex.

QUEEN Unknown.

MALE Unknown.

Etymology. This species was named in honor of Dr. Claire Villemant, a French entomologist, curator of the Hymenoptera Collection at Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris.

Comments. The diagnostic characters of this species are sufficient to easily distinguish it from most of its congeners. Still, Hylomyrma villemantae is very similar to H. peetersi and H. margaridae . All three species have a strongly convex petiole, with indistinguishable petiolar peduncle and node, and the body mainly covered with regular and longitudinal striae. Even so, H. villemantae can be easily distinguished from both (characteristic in parenthesis) in the striae on the head dorsum with smooth crests (vs. with punctuated crests), the mesosoma with few elliptical and concentric striae (vs. longitudinally striate), the longer propodeal spine (vs. shorter), the unarmed mesoventral surface of petiole (vs. armed), and the smooth dorsum of postpetiole and gaster (vs. with longitudinal striae). All three species are allopatric; H. villemantae is recorded from Brazil (BA) ( Fig. 86 ), whereas H. peetersi and H. margaridae occur in relatively close areas in northern South America (French Guiana, Guyana, and Venezuela) ( Fig. 89 ).

Distribution. This species occurs in Ibicuí and Itororó, Bahia, Brazil ( Fig. 86 ).

Natural history. The biology of this species remains unknown. Type specimens were collected in leaf-litter with winkler extractors, at elevations between 951 and 1070 m in the region known as “ Serra das Piabas”, a fragment of Atlantic forest in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

Additional material examined (1 worker): BRAZIL: BA[Bahia]: Itororó, [área] C, 08.08.00, 14.57.31S, 40.02.33W, Santos J.R.M. dos (1W) (MZHY199) [ MZSP] .

Figures

FIGURE 76. Worker of Hylomyrma villemantae (MZHY199 [MZSP]). A) frontal view; B) dorsal view; C) lateral view. Photos by M.A. Ulysséa.

FIGURE 86. Distribution records of Hylomyrma dentiloba, H. macielae, H. reginae, H. villemantae, and H. wachiperi.

FIGURE 89. Distribution records of Hylomyrma lopesi, H. margaridae, H. peetersi, H. transversa, and H. virginiae.