Polyrhachis gracilior
Polyrhachis gracilior is a species of ant found in the southwest and northeast India. It is one of the few ants that build arboreal nests[1] made of leaves stitched together using silk produced by their larvae.
| Polyrhachis gracilior | |
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| A worker (from the Western Ghats) | |
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| Species: | P. gracilior |
| Binomial name | |
| Polyrhachis gracilior Forel, 1893 | |
Originally described as a "race" of Polyrhachis furcata, it was elevated to a full species by C T Bingham who noted differences in the shape of the spines.[2] A species described from Travancore as weberi by Horace Donisthorpe in 1943, was identified as being identical to gracilior by Barry Bolton.[3]
With a larva
Nest between leaves
References
- Gaume, Laurence; Megha Shenoy; Merry Zacharias & Renee M. Borges (2006). "Co-existence of ants and an arboreal earthworm in a myrmecophyte of the Indian Western Ghats: anti-predation effect of the earthworm mucus" (PDF). Journal of Tropical Ecology. 22: 341–344. doi:10.1017/S0266467405003111.
- Bingham, CT (1903). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera. Volume 2. Taylor and Francis, London. p. 388.
- Bolton B (1974). "New synonymy and a new name in the ant genus Polyrhachis F. Smith (Hym., Formicidae)". Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 109: 172–180.
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