''Ancyridris'' is a small genus of

myrmicine Myrmicinae is a subfamily of ants, with about 140 extant genera; their distribution is cosmopolitan. The pupae lack cocoons. Some species retain a functional sting. The petioles of Myrmicinae consist of two nodes. The nests are permanent and ...

ants, with only two described species from New Guinea.

Description

The eyes are well developed. The long and narrow mesosoma is shaped somewhat as in ''

Aphaenogaster ''Aphaenogaster'' is a genus of myrmicine ants. About 200 species have been described, including 18 fossil species. They occur worldwide except in South America south of Colombia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Antarctica. They are often confused w ...

''. The propodeum bears two long, flattened, hooked spines resembling those of ''

Polyrhachis ''Polyrhachis'' is a genus of formicine ants found in the Old World with over 600 species. The genus is yet to be comprehensively resolved and contains many varied species including nest-weavers (e.g. ''Polyrhachis dives''), swimming workers ( ...

bihamata''. On the pronotum there are long hairs. The worker of ''A. polyrhachioides'' is almost 6 mm long. Apart from the curious anchor-like spines on its propodeum, ''Ancyridris'' bears a general resemblance to ''Aphaenogaster'' or certain worker forms of '' Pheidole''. Wheeler suspected some aberrant or archaic group, "another of the living fossils which are continually turning up in the Papuan and Australian Regions". ''Ancyridris'' in fact seems close to '' Lordomyrma''. It is the only ant genus currently thought to be endemic to the island of New Guinea. ''A. rupicapra'' was originally described in the genus ''Pheidole ( Pheidolacanthinus)''. Its workers are 4 mm long. ''A. polyrhachioides'' is black, and ''A. rupicapra'' reddish-brown (as implied by its

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

which translates as "red goat", referring as well to the goat-horn like propodeal spines. The sole known rupicapra specimen was collected in the mountains of the Sepik River catchment by the German colonial Kaiserin Augustafluss Expedition (1912–13). The two original type specimens of ''A. polyrhachioides'' were recovered somewhat damaged from the stomach of an eastern blue-grey robin (''Peneothello cyanus subcyaneus'') which was caught on Mount Misim in the Morobe District of New Guinea.

Name

The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek αγκυρος " anchor" and ιδρις "the knowing/provident one",

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

's name for an ant,in: Works and Days, verse 778, in the text adopted in the Loeb Classical Library probably '' Messor barbarus'' or '' M. structor''.

References

External links

* * AntWeb
Pictures of ''Ancyridris'' species
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1314658 Myrmicinae Ant genera