''Simopone'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of predominantly arboreal

ant Ants are Eusociality, eusocial insects of the Family (biology), family Formicidae and, along with the related wasps and bees, belong to the Taxonomy (biology), order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from Vespoidea, vespoid wasp ancestors in the Cre ...

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 botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Dorylinae Dorylinae is an ant subfamily, with distributions in both the Old World and New World. Brady ''et al.'' (2014) Synonym (taxonomy), synonymized the previous dorylomorph subfamilies (Aenictinae, Aenictogitoninae, Cerapachyinae, Ecitoninae, and Lep ...

. The genus is widely distributed in the

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

tropics, with the majority of species in

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, f ...

and

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Taxonomy

The genus was first described by 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), '' S. conciliatrix'', so different from all the others in the genus that it is transferred to its own

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

, '' 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 ''Crematogaster'' is an ecologically diverse genus of ants found worldwide, which are characterised by a distinctive heart-shaped gaster (insect anatomy), gaster (abdomen), which gives them one of their common names, the Saint Valentine ant. Mem ...

'' brood by ''S. vepres'', and the brood of '' Terataner'' by ''S. sicaria''. Nevertheless, these two records support the general supposition by Brown (1975) that most or all members of tribe Cerapachyini prey on other ants, or more probably the brood of other ants, but actual records are extremely rare. Known

queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

are entirely worker-like except that the

mesosoma The mesosoma is the middle part of the body, or tagma, of arthropods whose body is composed of three parts, the other two being the prosoma and the metasoma. It bears the legs, and, in the case of winged insects, the wings. Wasps, bees and a ...

has a full complement of flight sclerites. No queen recognizable by external

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

has been seen in any Malagasy species, the queens of which are suspected to be remarkably

ergatoid An ergatoid (from Greek '' ergat-'', "worker" + '' -oid'', "like") is a permanently wingless reproductive adult ant or termite. The similar but somewhat ambiguous term ergatogyne refers to any intermediate form between workers and standard gyne ...

, or perhaps even replaced by gamergates. Workers of most (perhaps all) species exhibit considerable size variation.

Species

* '' Simopone amana'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone annettae'' Kutter, 1976 * '' Simopone bakeri'' Menozzi, 1926 * '' Simopone brunnea'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone chapmani'' Taylor, 1966 * '' Simopone conradti'' Emery, 1899 * '' Simopone consimilis'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone dignita'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone dryas'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone dux'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * ''

Simopone elegans ''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 describe ...

'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * ''

Simopone emeryi ''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 describe ...

'' Forel, 1892 * ''

Simopone fera ''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 describe ...

'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone fulvinodis'' Santschi, 1923 * '' Simopone grandidieri'' Forel, 1891 * '' Simopone grandis'' Santschi, 1923 * '' Simopone gressitti'' Taylor, 1965 * '' Simopone inculta'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone laevissima'' Arnold, 1954 * '' Simopone latiscapa'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone marleyi'' Arnold, 1915 * ''

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 describe ...

'' Kutter, 1977 * '' Simopone mayri'' Emery, 1911 * '' Simopone merita'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone miniflava'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone nonnihil'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone occulta'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone oculata'' Radchenko, 1993 * '' Simopone persculpta'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone rabula'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone rex'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone schoutedeni'' Santschi, 1923 * '' Simopone sicaria'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * ''

Simopone silens ''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 describe ...

'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone trita'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone vepres'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone victrix'' Bolton & Fisher, 2012 * '' Simopone wilburi'' Weber, 1949

References

* *Brown, W.L., Jr. (1975) Contributions toward a reclassification of the Formicidae. 5. Ponerinae, tribes Platythyreini, Cerapachyini, Cylindromyrmecini, Acanthostichini, and Aenictogitini. Search Agriculture 5, ''Entomology'' (Ithaca) 15, 1–115. * *Kutter, H. (1976) Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Gattung ''Simopone'' Forel. ''

Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Entomologischen Gesellschaft ''Alpine Entomology'' is an open access peer-reviewed academic journal of entomology, published by Pensoft Publishers on behalf of the Swiss Entomological Society. History The journal was established in 1862 as ''Mitteilungen der Schweizerisch ...

'', 49, 273–276. *Kutter, H. (1977) Zweiter Beitrag zur Kenntnis der Gattung ''Simopone'' Forel. ''

'', 50, 173–176.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q4049511 Dorylinae Ant genera Hymenoptera of Africa