Strumigenys membranifera Emery, 1869

Fig. 30A–C; Table 2

Strumigenys (Trichoscapa) membranifera Emery, 1869: 24, fig. 11 (w.) ITALY. Palearctic.

Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) foochowensis Wheeler, 1928a: 28 (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) membranifera var. marioni Wheeler, 1933: 276 (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys membranifera var. santschii Forel, 1904: 6 (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys silvestriana Wheeler, 1928a: 27 (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys membranifera r. simillima Emery, 1890: 69, pl. 8, fig. 5 (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) vitiensis Mann, 1921: 461, fig. 22c (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) membranifera var. williamsi Wheeler, 1933: 276 (synonymized by Brown 1948: 114).

Strumigenys (Cephaloxys) membranifera – Emery 1916: 205.

Trichoscapa membranifera – Brown 1948: 113.

Pyramica membranifera – Bolton 1999: 1673.

Strumigenys membranifera – Baroni Urbani & De Andrade 2007: 123.

Material examined

VIETNAM – Đắk Nông Province • 1 worker; Nam Nung Reserve; 12.17645° N, 107.77879° E; 896 m a.s.l.; 10 Jun. 2018; IBBL members leg.; Winkler; IBBL. – Đỗng Nai Province • 4 workers; Cat Tien National Park; 11.37623° N, 107.50349° E; 175 m a.s.l.; 7 Jun. 2018; IBBL members leg.; Winkler, 4 corners; IBBL ANTWEB1011955.

Geographic range

Native: Afrotropical realm (Ghana, Sierra Leone, South Africa).

Introduced: Oriental realm (mainland China: Yunnan; India; Singapore; Taiwan; Vietnam: Đắk Nông, Đồng Nai), Sino-Japanese realm (Bhutan, mainland China: Fujian, Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, Sichuan; Japan: Honshu, Kyushu, Ryukyu Islands, Shikoku; Nepal). For a full global account refer to antmaps.org (Janicki et al. 2016; Guénard et al. 2017).

New record for Vietnam.

Ecology

Collected in rubber plantations, at elevations from 175 to 896 m.

Comments

This record in southern Vietnam is the second in the Indochinese Peninsula, besides its recent collection in Singapore (Wang et al. 2022). Given the widespread distribution of this Afrotropical tramp species across almost all biogeographic realms, and its presence from India to Japan in the north, and from Indonesia (Lesser Sunda Islands) to the Solomon Islands in the south, this new record is not surprising. It also indicates the possibility of its presence in nearby countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, and Guangxi and Hainan provinces of mainland China.