Buniapone
{{Short description|Genus of ants}}
{{Speciesbox
|image = Pachycondyla amblyops casent0172431 profile 1.jpg
|image_caption = Buniapone amblyops worker, holotype specimen
|display_parents = 3
|genus = Buniapone
|parent_authority = Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014
|species = amblyops
|authority = (Emery, 1887)
|synonyms = Ponera amblyops Emery, 1887 (type species of Buniapone)
}}
Buniapone is a monotypic genus of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae. Buniapone amblyops, the single described species, is found in Southern and Southeast Asia.
Etymology
File:Pachycondyla amblyops casent0172431 head 1.jpg
The genus name is derived from orang bunian, supernatural forest-living beings in Malay folklore, with the suffix -pone from the name of subfamily.
Taxonomy
The genus was established by Schmidt & Shattuck (2014) to house the single species Ponera amblyops (at the time a junior synonym Pachycondyla amblyops), which was first described by Emery (1887) from worker specimen from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The type species has a long and complicated taxonomic history, variously belonging to the genera Ponera, Trapeziopelta (now Myopias), Belonopelta, Pachycondyla, Pseudoponera, Euponera and Pachycondyla. One subspecies, B. amblyops oculatior from Indonesia, has been described. Molecular phylogeny by Schmidt (2013) resolved Buniapone as a sister to the strictly African genus Paltothyreus.
Distribution
Description
Little is known about their biology, but they have a subterranean lifestyle and are thought to be predators, although not strictly carnivorous. Workers are medium in size (5.5–6.5 mm), orange-colored, and have long and narrow mandibles with seven teeth. Queens are similar to the workers, but larger (9.25 mm). Buniapone is morphologically similar to some Cryptopone and Promyopias species. However, Buniapone is more closely related to other species and the similarities are deemed to have evolved through convergent evolution.
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{AntCat|461790|Buniapone|2015|accessdate=6 January 2015}}
{{cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=C. A. |date=2013 |title=Molecular phylogenetics of ponerine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=3647 |issue=2 |pages=201–250 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3647.2.1|pmid=26295106 }}
{{cite journal |last1=Schmidt |first1=C. A. |last2=Shattuck |first2=S. O. |date=2014 |title=The Higher Classification of the Ant Subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a Review of Ponerine Ecology and Behavior |journal=Zootaxa |volume=3817 |issue=1 |pages=1–242 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1 |pmid=24943802}}
}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Pachycondyla amblyops|Buniapone amblyops}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q19903632}}