Photos and Info on Ants and Termites of Malaysia: February 2013

Friday, February 22, 2013

Aenictus

Aenictus under the subfamily Aenictinae is group under the behavior group of army ants. This small black species typical of army ants packs a painful sting. Like Leptogenys, workers of Aenictus are monomorphic. This first species documented here is one of the larger species of this genus with the monomorphic workers measuring nearly 4 millimeters (TL).

Aenictus workers

Aenictus ant worker.

Aenictus cornutus

Aenictus cornutus ant worker.

Aenictus sp3

Aenictus sp(3)

Aenictus sp4

Workers of Aenictus sp4

Aenictus sp4

Aenictus wilsoni

Worker of Aenictus wilsoni. This is the most sensitive species of the Aenictus genus documented in this blog.

See also:

Aenictus cornutus

Aenictus wilsoni

Aenictus sp(03)

Aenictus sp(04)

Taxonomy:

No rank: cellular organisms 131567

Superkingdom (Domain): Eukaryota 2759

No rank: Opisthokonta 33154

Kingdom: Metazoa 33208

No rank: Eumetazoa 6072

No rank (Subkingdom): Bilateria 33213

No rank (Branch): Protostomia 33317

No rank (Infrakingdom): Ecdysozoa

No rank (Superphylum): Panarthropoda 88770

Phylum: Arthropoda 6656

No rank (Subphylum): Mandibulata 197563

No rank: Pancrustacea 197562

Subphylum (Epiclass): Hexapoda 6960

Class: Insecta 50557

No rank (Subclass): Dicondylia 85512

Subclass (Infraclass): Pterygota 7496

Infraclass: Neoptera 33340

Cohort: Holometabola

Order: Hymenoptera 7399

Suborder Apocrita 7400

Infraorder: Aculeata 7434

Superfamily: Formicoidea

Family: Formicidae 36668

Subfamily: Dorylinae 213859

Genus: Aenictus 232111

Last Updated: 2021 08 03
First Posted: 2013 02 22
© 2009 – 2021 Quah. All rights reserved.

Monday, February 04, 2013

Pheidole sp

Pheidole, the big headed ants, is among one of the largest ant genus. Most are average size small ants with minor workers of around 2 millimeters to 3 millimeters. Pheidole species are usually dimorphic with a few species seeing several expressions in the major worker caste. Though a small number of Pheidole species are polymorphic, the majority of species are dimorphic. Most species of Pheidole ants are also polygynous but a few are monogynous.

This species of average size is unusual of the Pheidole genus in that the major also serves as replete. While this role is fairly common among the smaller species, in average size species this is more rare so.

Queen, major and minor workers and brood of Pheidole sp14.

Major worker with the extended gaster. While it is fairly common for small Pheidole species to have the major workers as replete, this is not as common among the larger species as it is in this case.