''Proceratium'' is a rare

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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 ...

s in the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

Proceratiinae Proceratiinae is a subfamily of ants in the poneromorph subfamilies group, with three extant genera, of which most are tropical or subtropical, although overall distribution is worldwide. Identification The ants are relatively small to medium i ...

. It is the

type genus In biological taxonomy, the type genus is the genus which defines a biological family and the root of the family name. Zoological nomenclature According to the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, "The name-bearing type of a nominal f ...

of the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English language, English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in p ...

Proceratiini, which in addition to ''Proceratium'' consists of two even rarer genera: the extant ''

Discothyrea ''Discothyrea'' is a genus of small ants in the subfamily Proceratiinae. The genus is distributed in the tropics and subtropics throughout the world, where they usually nest in rotten wood, in the leaf litter, or under stones. Little is known abo ...

'' and the fossil genus ''

Bradoponera ''Bradoponera'' is an extinct genus of ant in the Formicidae subfamily Proceratiinae, and is one of four genera of the subfamily. The genus contains four described species ''Bradoponera electrina'', ''Bradoponera meieri'', ''Bradoponera similis ...

''.

Distribution

The genus is rare, but widespread throughout the northern

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

zones. In the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

, it is distributed from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, in

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

, the

Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago (Indonesian/Malay: , tgl, Kapuluang Malay) is the archipelago between mainland Indochina and Australia. It has also been called the " Malay world," "Nusantara", "East Indies", Indo-Australian Archipelago, Spices Archipe ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) and

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

. In the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

, it is known from

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(and some

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

islands).

Biology

Colonies are relatively small, usually containing less than 200 individuals. They nest in soil, in rotten wood, under stones, or on tree branches. Similar to its sister genus ''

'', some species are specialist predators of

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

eggs, mainly spider eggs.

Species

*'' Proceratium algiricum'' Forel, 1899 *'' Proceratium angulinode'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium arnoldi'' Forel, 1913 *'' Proceratium australe'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium austronesicum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium avium'' Brown, 1974 *'' Proceratium banjaranense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium boltoni'' Leston, 1971 *'' Proceratium brasiliense'' Borgmeier, 1959 *'' Proceratium burundense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium caledonicum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium californicum'' Cook, 1953 *'' Proceratium catio'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium cavinodus'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium chickasaw'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium colombicum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium compitale'' Ward, 1988 *'' Proceratium confinium'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium convexiceps'' Borgmeier, 1957 *'' Proceratium crassicorne'' Emery, 1895 *'' Proceratium creek'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium croceum'' (Roger, 1860) *'' Proceratium cubanum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium dayak'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium deelemani'' Perrault, 1981 *†'' Proceratium denticulatum'' Lattke, 1991 *'' Proceratium diplopyx'' Brown, 1980 *†'' Proceratium dominicanum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium dusun'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium ecuadoriense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *†'' Proceratium eocenicum'' Dlussky, 2009 *'' Proceratium foveolatum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium galilaeum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *†'' Proceratium gibberum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium gigas'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium goliath'' Kempf & Brown, 1968 *''

Proceratium google ''Proceratium google'', also known as the Google ant, was discovered in Madagascar by Brian L. Fisher, Associate Curator of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences. The ant has an oddly shaped abdomen, adapted for hunting its exclusive ...

'' Fisher, 2005 *'' Proceratium gracile'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium hirsutum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium itoi'' (Forel, 1918) *'' Proceratium ivimka'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium japonicum'' Santschi, 1937 *'' Proceratium lattkei'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium lombokense'' Emery, 1897 *'' Proceratium longigaster'' Karavaiev, 1935 *'' Proceratium longiscapus'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium longmenense'' Xu, 2006 *'' Proceratium lunatum'' Terron, 1981 *'' Proceratium malesianum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium mancum'' Mann, 1922 *'' Proceratium melinum'' (Roger, 1860) *'' Proceratium melitense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium mexicanum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium micrommatum'' (Roger, 1863) *'' Proceratium microsculptum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium morisitai'' Onoyama & Yoshimura, 2002 *'' Proceratium nujiangense'' Xu, 2006 *'' Proceratium numidicum'' Santschi, 1912 *'' Proceratium oceanicum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium panamense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium papuanum'' Emery, 1897 *'' Proceratium pergandei'' (Emery, 1895) *†'' Proceratium petrosum'' Dlussky, Rasnitsyn & Perfilieva, 2015 *†'' Proceratium poinari'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium politum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium pumilio'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium relictum'' Mann, 1921 Proceratium eocenicum paratype GPIH-BE4507 Profile whole

Proceratium eocenicum paratype GPIH-BE4507 Profile whole

*'' Proceratium robustum'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium siamense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium silaceum'' Roger, 1863 *'' Proceratium snellingi'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium stictum'' Brown, 1958 *'' Proceratium striativenter'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium sulawense'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium taino'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium terraealtae'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium terroni'' Bolton, 1995 *'' Proceratium tio'' Snelling & Cover, 1992 *'' Proceratium toschii'' (Consani, 1951) *'' Proceratium transitionis'' Baroni Urbani & De Andrade, 2003 *'' Proceratium vinaka'' Garcia, Sarnat, & Economo, 2015 *'' Proceratium watasei'' (Wheeler, 1906) *'' Proceratium williamsi'' Mathew & Tiwari, 2000 *'' Proceratium zhaoi'' Xu, 2000

References

External links

* Proceratiinae Ant genera {{ant-stub