''Adetomyrma cassis'' (from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''cassis'', "helm", referring to the shape of its genital capsule) is a species of ant

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Description

''Adetomyrma cassis'' is only known from a single male collected in the

Ambatovaky Reserve Ambatovaky Special Reserve is a tropical rainforest and wildlife reserve in the north-east of Madagascar (). It is designated by Bird Life International as an Important Bird Area for the large number of endemic species of birds. Geography This r ...

, Madagascar. The male of ''A. cassis'' is distinguished easily from other ''

Adetomyrma ''Adetomyrma'' is a genus of ants endemic to Madagascar. Workers of this genus are blind. The type species '' Adetomyrma venatrix'' was described in 1994, with the genus being an atypical member of its tribe, the Amblyoponini. This tribe includ ...

'' males by a distinct and flatted projection on the posterior portion of the

paramere Parameres ('side parts') are part of the external reproductive organs of male insects and the term was first used by Karl Wilhelm Verhoeff, Verhoeff in 1893 for the lateral genital lobes in Coleoptera. The primary phallic lobes which appear in th ...

. This projection is not separated from the paramere by a deep notch as in '' A. bressleri''. This genital character observed in ''Adetomyrma cassis'' is completely unique and sufficient to regard this male as a distinct species.

References

* * Amblyoponinae Blind animals Insects described in 2012 Hymenoptera of Africa Endemic fauna of Madagascar {{ant-stub