''Heteroponera brouni'' is a species of

ant Ants are eusocial insects of the family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cretaceous period. More than 13,800 of an estimated total of 22 ...

in the genus ''

Heteroponera ''Heteroponera'' is a genus of ants in the subfamily Heteroponerinae. The genus is known from the Neotropics (from Costa Rica to Uruguay and Chile) and Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some nei ...

''. It is

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 ...

to the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, and the

Three Kings Islands 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

. Forel named it in 1892 to honor Major

Thomas Broun Thomas Broun (15 July 1838 – 24 August 1919) was a New Zealand soldier, farmer, teacher and entomologist. He was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland on 15 July 1838. BibliographyDescriptions of new genera and species of coleoptera ''Bul ...

, a significant pioneering amateur entomologist in New Zealand, but the name was mistakenly published as "brownii" (i.e. for "Brown" not "Broun", and with an incorrect second "i"). These errors were corrected by Wheeler (1923), who then also named a spurious subspecies "''Heteroponera brouni kirki'', later synonymised under ''H. brouni'' by W.L. Brown Jr. in 1958. Wheeler's correction was technically "informal" (not involving the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

), but all subsequent authors have accepted it.

References

Heteroponerinae Ants of New Zealand Endemic fauna of New Zealand Insects described in 1892 {{ant-stub Hymenoptera of New Zealand Endemic insects of New Zealand