Image from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala state, in Western Ghats of India. The ants were busy attacking Pheidole sps.
Taxonomic history
Junior synonym of Aenictus aratus: Wilson, 1964a PDF: 446; Bolton, 1995b: 58; Tiwari, 1999 PDF: 17.Status as species: Bingham, 1903 PDF: 19; Emery, 1910b PDF: 29; Wheeler, 1919f PDF: 62; Chapman & Capco, 1951 PDF: 10; Shattuck, 2008c PDF: 16; Bharti et al., 2012 PDF: 294 (in key); Bharti et al., 2016 PDF: 20.Senior synonym of Aenictus aratus asiatica: Shattuck, 2008c PDF: 16.Aenictus aitkenii Forel , 1901: 475 (junior synonym of A. aratus by Wilson, 1964: 446; revised status as valid species). Aenictus aratus var. asiatica Forel , 1911: 453 (junior synonym of aratus by Wilson, 1964: 446; removed from synonymy with A. aratus , new synonym of A. aitkenii ).
Types. Aenictus aitkenii : Worker syntypes from Kanara, Thana and Travancore, India (not examined). Aenictus aratus var. asiatica : Worker syntype from Sri Lanka (not examined).
Comments. This species is similar to A. aratus (with which it has been treated as a junior synonym) and A. nesiotis but differs in having a broader head (CI> 87 versus CI <88 in nesiotis ), and broader and more bulbous petiole and postpetiole (both are narrower in aratus and nesiotis ). The scape is also relatively longer than in the others (SI> 115 versus SI <115). It is similar to levior in the shape of the head but differs in having longer scapes. This species is so far known only from India and Sri Lanka.
Aenictus aitkenii is een mierensoort uit de onderfamilie van de Aenictinae.[1][2] De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort is voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1901 door Forel.
Bronnen, noten en/of referenties
