Two new species and a new record of the ant genus Meranoplus Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) from Thailand.
Kuntima YodprasitNopparat BuddhakalaWattanachai TasenWeeyawat JaitrongPublished in: ZooKeys (2024)
Meranoplus Smith, 1853 is distributed in the Old World tropics, from Africa, Asia, New Guinea to Australia. There are four species Meranoplusbicolor (Guérin-Méneville, 1844), M.castaneus Smith, 1857, M.laeviventris Emery, 1889, and M.mucronatus Smith, 1857 previously recorded from Thailand. In the present paper, two new species of the genus, M.siamensis Yodprasit & Jaitrong, sp. nov. and M.tanomtongi Yodprasit & Jaitrong, sp. nov. , are described based on the worker caste. Additionally, M.malaysianus Schödl, 1998 is recorded for the first time for Thailand. A key to the Oriental and Indo-Australian species, based on the worker caste, is provided. The new species and the new record were found to nest in soil.
Keyphrases