Ponera

Ponera
Ponera sp.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Alliance: Ponera genus group
Genus: Ponera
Latreille, 1804
Type species
Formica coarctata
Latreille, 1802
Diversity
66 species
Synonyms

Pseudocryptopone Wheeler, W.M., 1933
Pteroponera Bernard, 1950
Selenopone Wheeler, W.M., 1933

Ponera is a genus of ponerine ants. The name is the Latinized form (Ponēra) of the Ancient Greek ponēra (πονηρά, 'wicked, wretched').

Description

Workers are very small to small in size (1–4 mm); queen are similar to workers but winged. This genus is very similar to Cryptopone, Hypoponera and Pachycondyla.

Biology

Ponera nests contain less than 100 workers in protected places on the ground, most often in the soil or in cracks, rotten wood, under bark or moss on rotten logs.

Distribution

Ponera is known from the Holarctic, Samoa, New Guinea and Australia.

Species

Illustration of Ponera leptocephala
in Sicilian amber

References

  1. ↑ Bolton, B. (2014). "Ponera". AntCat. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "ponerid". Oxford English Dictionary (online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  3. ↑ Schmidt, C. A.; Shattuck, S. O. (2014). "The Higher Classification of the Ant Subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a Review of Ponerine Ecology and Behavior". Zootaxa. 3817 (1): 1–242. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1. PMID 24943802.
  4. 1 2 3 "Ponera Latreille, 1804, Ants Down Under". CSIRO Australia. Retrieved 2010-08-10.