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Simopone Matthiasi
''Simopone'' is a genus of predominantly arboreal ants in the subfamily Dorylinae. The genus is widely distributed in the Old World tropics, with the majority of species in Madagascar and sub-Saharan Africa. Taxonomy The genus was first described by Auguste Forel, Forel (1891), based on a ''Simopone grandidier'' specimen. Brown (1975) revised the genus and recognized 13 species altogether. The number of species was raised to 15 by Kutter (1976, 1977) and to 38 by Bolton & Fisher (2012). Bolton & Fisher considered one of the African species described by Brown (1975), ''Vicinopone conciliatrix, S. conciliatrix'', so different from all the others in the genus that it is transferred to its own monotypic genus, ''Vicinopone''. Description ''Simopone'' species are almost entirely arboreal, but on occasion foraging workers are found on the ground or in rotten logs. Prey records are extremely sparse for this genus, consisting only of ''Crematogaster'' brood by ''S. vepres'', and the broo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, fourth largest island, the List of island countries, second-largest island country, and the List of countries and dependencies by area, 46th largest country overall. Its capital and List of cities in Madagascar, largest city is Antananarivo. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from Africa during the Early Jurassic period, around 180 million years ago, and separated from the Indian subcontinent approximately 90 million years ago. This isolation allowed native plants and animals to evolve in relative seclusion; as a result, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot and one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries, with over 90% of its wildlife of Madagascar, wildlife being endemic. The island has ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |