Encyclopedia of Social Insects

Living Edition
| Editors: Christopher K. Starr

Platythyrea

  • Abel BernadouEmail author
Living reference work entry
First Online:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90306-4_97-1
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The subfamily ant Ponerinae comprises two tribes, Platythyreini and Ponerini. The Platythyreini consist of a single genus, Platythyrea, with 39 described extant species. These show a remarkable variability in colony structure [1, 2].

Platythyrea are characterized by their broad, shield-shaped petiole (hence the genus name: Greek Πλατύς (broad, flat) and θυρεός (shield-shaped). They are medium to large ants, 4–20 mm in body length [ 2]. Workers have an elongate body covered with pruinose sculpturing. In addition, they feature a broad clypeal insertion, widely spaced frontal lobes, and two pectinate spurs on the metatibiae [ 2]. Coloration varies between species from yellowish-red to brownish and black. Typical colonies range in size from a few dozen to a few hundred workers (e.g., P. punctata, 9–161 workers; P. lamellosa, 18–276 workers) [ 2]. The genus contains both terrestrial and (unusual for Ponerinae) many arboreal species. Most members of this genus have a pantropical distribution...
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References

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© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute for Zoology/Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of RegensburgRegensburgGermany