Anochetus muzziolii

Brown, WL Jr.,, 1978, Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. Part VI. Ponerinae, tribe Ponerini, subtribe Odontomachiti. Section B. Genus Anochetus and bibliography., Studia Entomologica 20, pp. 549-638 : 576-577

[3] Anochetus muzziolii

Two short series of workers (figs. 4 and 31) from Sumatra, E. Coast: Langkat, Namoe Dengas Estate (Jourin); and Malaya: 26 km NE of Kuala Lumpur, about 300 m (E. S. Ross & D. Q. Cavagnaro) are referred to A. muzziolii , originally described from a single worker from Soliga, on Nias Island in the Indian Ocean off Sumatra. Menozzi’s original description is incomplete and partly confusing, and his figure shows the head narrower than in my samples, and the mandibles too slender and with too long a preapical excision, but the antennal scapes and mandibles are shown as nearly the same lengths as in my series. I have not been able to study the A. muzziolii type directly myself; it is kept in the Menozzi Collection in the Instituto di Entomologia of the University of Bologna, and it cannot be borrowed. Prof. Maria M. Principi has kindly compared figs, 4 and 31 with the type, and she confirms the present determination.

The workers from Sumatra (figs. 4, 31) are uniform bright orange-ferruginous and smaller in size than the Malayan series; the smallest of 4 workers has TL 7.2, HL 1.81, HW 1.63, ML 1.02, WL 2.14, scape L 1.47, eye L 0.23 mm; Cl 90, MI 56.

The Malayan sample includes 2 workers chosen for their large size: TL 8.5, 8.6; HL 2.07, 2.12; HW 1.96, 1.97; ML 1.15, 1.20; WL 2.48, 2.52; scape L 1.66, 1.70; eye L 0.27, 0.27 mm; Cl 95, 93; MI 56, 57. Color uniform clear brownish-red.

A. muzziolii is closely allied to A. princeps , but has a slightly more compact body, with shorter appendages. The head appears especially large (wide) in comparison with A. princeps , especially the vertex, and the mandibles and antennae are relatively shorter and thicker; even the apical teeth of the mandibles are notably shorter and thicker. Posterior excision deeper and wider. The petiolar node is very slightly thicker and a trifle more broadly rounded above than in princeps , but this is an average difference instead of an absolute one. The gaster is also shorter and less strongly downcurved than in princeps . Otherwise, in form and sculpture, the two species are very similar, and even the same variation in details is shared. For example, the amount and extent of striation or rugulosity on the sides of the pronotum varies in both species, although the sculpture is usually more extensive and distinct in princeps . The same goes for the «saddle» area of the truncal dorsum (including parts of mesonotum, metanotum and anterior propodeum), which can be smooth and shining or longitudinally or diagonally rugulose or vaguely costulate, or merely minutely roughened in the middle.

Menozzi’s comparisons of the sizes of the trunks of the two species should be ignored, because he did not realize how variable in size either species is.

The queen and male of muzziolii remain unknown.