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Ponera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ponera
Ponera sp.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Genus: Ponera
Latreille, 1804
Type species
Formica coarctata
Latreille, 1802
Diversity[1]
66 species
Synonyms

Pseudocryptopone Wheeler, W.M., 1933
Pteroponera Bernard, 1950
Selenopone Wheeler, W.M., 1933

Ponera is a genus of ponerine ants. The name is the Latinized form (Ponēra) of the Ancient Greek ponira (πονηρά, 'wicked, wretched').[2]

Description

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Workers are very small to small in size (1–4 mm); queen are similar to workers but winged.[3] This genus is very similar to Cryptopone, Hypoponera and Pachycondyla.[4]

Biology

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Ponera nests contain less than 100 workers in protected places on the ground, most often in the soil or in cracks, rotten wood, under bark or moss on rotten logs.[4]

Distribution

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Ponera is known from the Holarctic, Samoa, New Guinea and Australia.[4]

Species

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Illustration of Ponera leptocephala
in Sicilian amber

References

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  1. ^ Bolton, B. (2014). "Ponera". AntCat. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  2. ^ "ponerid". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ^ Schmidt, C. A.; Shattuck, S. O. (2014). "The Higher Classification of the Ant Subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a Review of Ponerine Ecology and Behavior". Zootaxa. 3817 (1): 1–242. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1. PMID 24943802.
  4. ^ a b c "Ponera Latreille, 1804, Ants Down Under". CSIRO Australia. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
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  • Media related to Ponera at Wikimedia Commons