Schmidt, C. A.;Shattuck, S. O.
Harpegnathos
Sign in to saveHarpegnathos is a small ponerine genus of ants found in South and Southeast Asia. They are notable for their jumping ability, complex colony structure, and large to very large workers easily identifiable by their long mandibles and large eyes.
Species
GENUS
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumArthropoda
- ClassInsecta
- OrderHymenoptera
- FamilyFormicidae
Gen: Char: Jaws scythe shaped, pointed, and finely serrated; head oblong, notched behind; eyes very large situated at the anterior extremity of the head; antennae rising between the eyes; abdominal pedicle slightly raised. I cannot class this remarkable ant as an Odontomachus , and have therefore been compelled to institute a new genus for its reception ; some of the characters given may not be generic, but till other species are discovered it is difficult to say which are, and which are not of generic value.
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 5
- With media
- 1
- Family
- Formicidae
- Collections
- CAS, FMNH, USNM, INHS
- Recorded in
- Brazil
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
7 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Multifunctional mandibles
- Hunting behavior
- Colony structure
- Species
- References
- External links
Harpegnathos is a small ponerine genus of ants found in South and Southeast Asia. They are notable for their jumping ability, complex colony structure, and large to very large workers easily identifiable by their long mandibles and large eyes.
==Taxonomy== left|thumb|Head view of a Harpegnathos saltator worker, showing their characteristic long scythe-shaped mandibles The genus was established by Thomas C. Jerdon in 1851 to house the single species Harpegnathos saltator, found in India. Believing that the name was unavailable due to homonymy, Smith (1858) incorrectly erected the unnecessary replacement name Drepanognathus (now a synonym of Harpegnathos). For some time, both names were used in publications by other authors until the original name was restored. The most recent species was described in 1963, making the total number of Harpegnathos species seven, with an additional four described subspecies. The genus is closely related to the other genera in its tribe, Ponerini, and is probably a sister to all Ponerini.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Harpegnathos” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.