Dinoponera
| Dinoponera | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Dinoponera quadriceps – MHNT | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Formicidae |
| Subfamily: | Ponerinae |
| Tribe: | Ponerini |
| Genus: |
Dinoponera Roger, 1861 |
| Type species | |
|
Ponera grandis Guérin-Méneville, 1838 |
|
| Diversity | |
| 8 species | |
Dinoponera is a strictly South American genus of ant in the subfamily Ponerinae, commonly called tocandiras or giant Amazonian ants. These ants are generally less well known than Paraponera clavata, the bullet ant, yet Dinoponera females may surpass 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in total body length, making them among the largest ants in the world.
Dinoponera is a strictly South American genus, and has been found from montane rainforest on the eastern slope of the Andes in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to savannah and lowland rainforest in Brazil, Guyana, south through Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.Dinoponera australis, known from Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, has the widest known range of all Dinoponera species.
Dinoponera contains one of the largest species of ants in the world, with female Dinoponera gigantea specimens measuring 3–4 cm (1.2–1.6 in) in length. Size is the most obvious character distinguishing Dinoponera from other genera. The only other ants with a worker caste approaching this size are Paraponera clavata (the bullet ant) and the larger Pachycondyla such as P. crassinoda, P. impressa and P. villosa. Paraponera clavata is easily separated by its anvil-shaped petiole with a spine on the ventral surface, highly sculptured body and deep antennal scrobes. Pachycondyla is regarded as the sister taxa to Dinoponera. Dinoponera, in addition to their size, are distinguishable from Pachycondyla by the presence of two laterally projecting clypeal teeth and rows of spines on the pygidium and hypopygidium.
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Wikipedia