Zasphinctus wilsoni Hita Garcia

Garcia, Francisco Hita, Fischer, Georg, Liu, Cong, Audisio, Tracy L. & Economo, Evan P., 2017, Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics, ZooKeys 693, pp. 33-93 : 47-50

Zasphinctus wilsoni Hita Garcia sp. n. Figs 3, 4C, F, I, L, O, R, 5C, F, I, L, O, R, 6C, F, I, L, O, R, 11, 12, 13C, Video 3

Type material.

Holotype, pinned worker, Mozambique, Sofala, Gorongosa National Park, 2 km S Chitengo, -18.99472, 34.35769, 1 m, secondary forest, leaf litter, collection code ANTC37418, 30.V.2012 (G.D. Alpert) (MCZC: MCZ-ENT-00512764).

Cybertype, the cybertype dataset consists of the volumetric raw data in DICOM format, as well as 3D PDFs and 3D rotation videos of scans of the head, mesosoma, metasoma, and the full body of the physical holotype (MCZC: MCZ-ENT-00512764) in addition to montage photos illustrating head in full-face view, profile and dorsal views of the body. The data is deposited at Dryad and can be freely accessed as virtual representation of the holotype ( Hita Garcia et al. 2017c, http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4s3v1). In addition to the cybertype data at Dryad, we also provide a freely ac cessible 3D surface model of the holotype at Sketchfab (https://sketchfab.com/models/36bab7ecaa8d45b18013ea679b7ca54a).

Differential worker diagnosis.

See Table 3.

Worker measurements and indices (N=1).

See Table 4.

Etymology.

This new species is dedicated to the renowned scientist, author, and conservationist Edward O. Wilson from Harvard University in honour of his more than six decades of accomplishments to the fields of myrmecology, sociobiology, biodiversity, and conservation.

Distribution and biology.

Currently, Z. wilsoni is only known from its type locality, the Gorongosa National Park where it was collected in the leaf litter of a secondary dry forest. Considering how generally undersampled south-eastern Africa is, it is likely that Z. wilsoni might be encountered in other woodland localities in Mozambique, Tanzania, or Zimbabwe.

Diagnostic comments.

Zasphinctus wilsoni is morphologically closer to Z. obamai than to Z. sarowiwai . It shares the smaller body size, the lack of median clypeal tooth, and a clearly defined vertexal margin with Z. obamai , separating both from Z. sarowiwai . However, the conspicuous surface sculpture on the cephalic dorsum and the sides of mesosoma and petiole clearly distinguishes Z. wilsoni from the other two species. Since Z. wilsoni is only known from the holotype there is no available information about intraspecific variation.