Buniapone Schmidt et Shattuck 2014
Creators: name: Eguchi, Katsuyuki
name: Viet, Bui Tuan
name: Yamane, Seiki
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Formicidae
Buniapone

description: Buniapone Schmidt et Shattuck, 2014
Taxonomy. The genus Buniapone was established by Schmidt & Shattuck (2014) under the Odontomachus genus group of the tribe Ponerini.
Morphology. Workers of Vietnamese species have the following features (see also Schmidt & Shattuck 2014):
Worker monomorphic; head in full-face view subrectangular; preoccipital carina almost absent; frontal lobes horizontal, separated from each other just with a longitudinal sulcus; antennal scrobe absent; anteromedian margin of clypeus forming a rectangular projection; mandible elongate-triangular, with 6–7 teeth on masticatory margin; basal portion of mandible with a narrow groove dorsolaterally; antenna 12-segmented, gradually incrassate from segment III to XII; eye extremely reduced (consisting of a few ommatidia), located before midlength of side of head in lateral view; promesonotum in lateral view slightly raised; promesonotal suture completely separating pronotum from mesonotum; metanotal groove absent; mesopleuron separated well from mesonotum and metapleuron with distinct sutures, not divided by a transverse groove; metapleural gland bulla, when seen through the sclerite, bean-shaped, large in size (the anterior margin of bulla reaching midlength of metapleuron); metapleural gland orifice opening posterolaterad, with anterior and posterior cuticular flanges; propodeum unarmed; orifice of propodeal spiracle oval; propodeal lobe present but very low; apicoventral part of foretibia with a small simple spur behind a large pectinate spur; apicoventral part of mid and hind tibiae with a simple spur in front of a large pectinate spur; outer surface of middle tibia without peg-like or spiniform setae among background pilosity (but relatively long and thick standing setae present among background pilosity; a few stout setae present near tarsus but never extending along length of tibia); petiole without anterior peduncle; petiolar node squamiform, in lateral view high and thin; subpetiolar process triangular; girdling constriction between abdominal segments III and IV weak; abdominal sternite III usually with a distinct anteroventral kiel beneath helcium; sting well developed.
Differentiation. The worker of Buniapone most closely resembles that of Centromyrmex, butin the latter eye completely absent, and the anteromedian margin of clypeus does not forms a rectangular projection. The worker of Buniapone is also similar to that of Myopias, but in the latter metanotal grooves distinct dorsally, and petiolar node in lateral view thick.
Vietnamese species (1 sp.).
B. amblyops (Emery, 1887). Au (Pu Mat, Van Ban), Rad (Cuc Phuong).
Bionomics. Workers of Buniapone amblyops have so far been collected by digging up the ground in welldeveloped forests.
description: Published as part of Eguchi, Katsuyuki, Viet, Bui Tuan & Yamane, Seiki, 2014, Generic Synopsis of the Formicidae of Vietnam (Insecta: Hymenoptera), Part II — Cerapachyinae, Aenictinae, Dorylinae, Leptanillinae, Amblyoponinae, Ponerinae, Ectatomminae and Proceratiinae, pp. 1-46 in Zootaxa 3860 (1) on pages 28-29, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3860.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/287059