Meranoplus malaysianus Schodl 1998
Creators: name: Yodprasit, Kuntima
name: Buddhakala, Nopparat
name: Tasen, Wattanachai
name: Jaitrong, Weeyawat
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hymenoptera
Formicidae
Meranoplus
Meranoplus malaysianus

description: Meranoplus malaysianus Schödl, 1998
Figs 1 A – F, 7 F – I
Meranoplus malaysianus Schödl, 1998: 385, figs 4, 18, 32 (workers and queen).
Meranoplus malaysianus: Pfeiffer et al. 2011: 47; Satria and Herwina 2020: 83.
Types.
Holotype • (BMNH, CASENT 0902029, images examined), West Malaysia (Malaya), Kuala Lumpur, 8 October 1973, B. Bolton. Paratypes: • 10 workers and 1 queen, same locality data as holotype (BMNH, NHMW) • 3 workers, Berlese funnel, Malaysia (MALAYA), K. Lumpur, 8 October 1973, B. Bolton, Meranoplus sp. det. B. Bolton, 1974 (NHMB, NHMW) • 5 workers, Malaysia Neg. Sembilan Pasoh For. Res. November 1994, litt (= litter?) sample M. Brendell, K. Jackson, S. Lewis (BMNH, NHMW) • 4 workers, 2 queens, 1 male (head missing), Damm., Depok 7.1. [1 ex. 30.111.] 1923, MCZC Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZC, NHMW) • 3 workers, F 192-387, Kebun Raya, Bogor, W-Java, Indonesia, 11–31 Janaury 1992, F. Ito (NHMW).
Non-type material examined.
Southern: • 1 worker (THNHM -I-00028943, THNHM), Songkhla Province, Hat Yai District, Thung Tam Sao Subdistrict, evergreen rain forest, 27 July 2002, N. Noon-anant leg. • 1 worker (THNHM -I-00027334, THNHM), Narathiwat Province, Wang District, Lo Chood Subdistrict, 5.8455 ° N, 101.8756 ° E, 25 September 2001, R. Poonjampa leg., hand collecting • 1 worker (AMK), same locality and date, S. Hasin leg., general collection.
Measurements and indices.
Workers (n = 2): HL 0.68–0.69, HW 0.68–0.70, ML 0.65, PML 0.45–0.49, PW 0.65, SL 0.44, TL 2.79–2.84, CI 99–104, PMI 133–142, SI 63–64.
Diagnosis of worker.
Small species (HW 0.68–0.70 mm, TL 2.79–2.84 mm). Promesonotal shield shorter than broad and distinctly margined, broadly transparent at sides, overhanging lateral face of mesosoma; anterior corners of pronotum almost right angles; lateral margins of pronotum parallel, slightly sinuate. Petiole in profile tapered, the crest obliquely and narrowly truncate. Postpetiole nodiform, almost as long as high and roundly convex dorsal outline. Dorsa of head and promesonotal shield densely reticulate-rugulose; lateral portion of pronotum reticulate-rugulose; mesopleuron, metapleuron, and lateral faces of propodeum sparsely reticulate-rugulose, with smooth interspaces. Anterior face of petiole smooth and shiny, dorsum and lateral faces rugulose, posterior face smooth. First gastral tergite smooth, with an occasional faint shagreening around piliferous punctures.
The Thai specimens agreed well with the holotype (CASENT 0902029) in structure, sculpturing, and pilosity. However, body color of the specimens collected from Thailand are reddish brown, while the holotype is paler, yellow (Fig. 1). Reticulations on dorsum of head rather denser and smaller than that on the holotype (see Fig. 1 A, B for comparison).
Distribution.
Thailand (Songkhla and Narathiwat, new record, Fig. 4), Malaysia (West Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak), Singapore, Indonesia (Java).
Habitat.
Two specimens from Narathiwat Province were collected from the ground in a disturbed area near a lowland evergreen forest, near the Thai – Malay border. A specimen (THNHM - I- 00028943, THNHM) from Songkhla Province was collected in a primary evergreen forest.
description: Published as part of Yodprasit, Kuntima, Buddhakala, Nopparat, Tasen, Wattanachai & Jaitrong, Weeyawat, 2024, Two new species and a new record of the ant genus Meranoplus Smith, 1853 (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Myrmicinae) from Thailand, pp. 207-227 in ZooKeys 1210 on pages 207-227, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1210.125990