Anatea formicaria Berland 1927
Creators: name: Smith, Helen M.
name: Harvey, Mark S.
name: Agnarsson, Ingi
name: Anderson, Gregory J.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Arachnida
Araneae
Theridiidae
Anatea
Anatea formicaria

description: <i>Anatea formicaria</i> Berland Figs 1–12, 42 <i>Anatea formicaria</i> Berland, 1927: 55, figs 1–7. Not species figured bY Reiskind &amp; Levi, 1967: 21, figs 1–6 (misidentification, we refer this to sp. "J5", Fig. 41). <b>Diagnosis</b>. <b>Male</b>: From other New Caledonian species shown in Figs 38–41, 43 by pedicel and carapace morphology and careful comparison of palp, particularly embolus length. From Australian species, leg I longer than leg III, pedicel with "node", cymbium with extended apex, ventral abdomen with ventral plates (but note male of <i>A. elongata</i> sp. nov. is unknown). Female: from undescribed New Caledonian species by general morphology (as male) and details of genitalia; from Australian species by leg I longer than leg III, pedicel with "node", dorsal scutum present. <b>Type material</b> (not examined). 1♂ tYpe, 1♀ cotYpe, New Caledonia. Found by Berland (dried) in the collection of ants of Ernest André. Berland does not state what he did with the specimens. <b>Other material examined</b>. NEW CALEDONIA: 1♀ QM S34107, Rivière Bleu, Parc. 6, 22°05'S 166°40'E, 160 m, 9–22. iv.1987, L. Bonnet de Larbogne, J. Chazeau &amp; A. &amp; S. Tillier, Malaise trap, rainforest sassafras; 1♂ QM S34113, Rivière Bleu, Parc. 7, 22°05'S 166°40'E, 170 m, 25.xi–8.xii.1986, L. Bonnet de Larbogne, J. Chazeau &amp; A. &amp; S. Tillier, Malaise trap; 1♂ 1♀ QM S20728, Mt Koghis, 22°11'S 166°32'E, 500 m, 23–24.v.1987, R. Raven, rainforest, general and night collection; 1♀, QM S107230, Pic d'Amoa, N slopes, 20°58'S 165°17'E, 500 m, 27.xi.2003 – 30.1.2004, G. Monteith, with <i>Pheidole</i> sp. ant, flight intercept trap, SC11482; 1♂ KS.64090, Mt Panie, 20°38'S 164°46'E, 6.vi.1996, M. Moulds; 1♀ WAM T86527, Col de Rossettes, 21°27'S, 165°28'E, 11.ii.1993, Harvey, M.S., Platnick, N. I., Raven, R.J., rainforest litter. <b>Size range</b>. Male (n = 3). Carapace range, 0.75–0.80. Total length 2.05–2.15. Female (n = 3). Carapace range, 0.83–0.92. Total length 2.40–2.55. Berland (1927) gives the total length as 2.2 mm for the species. See Berland (1927) for full male description. <b>Distribution</b>. Recorded from mountainous rainforest sites across the main island of New Caledonia (Fig. 12). <b>Notes</b>. The habitus and genitalia of <i>A. formicaria</i> male and female are figured for comparison with the Australian species. Figure 1 is repeated as Fig. 42 to compare with other New Caledonian species. Whilst Berland (1927) admitted his hypothesis that <i>A. formicaria</i> was a mYrmecomorph could not be verified, he pointed out that it was found in a collection of ants and that the original collector had probably mistaken it for an ant; unfortunately, he did not (apparently) record which species or genera of ants the spiders were placed with in the collection. However, he comments (p. 53) that the spiders would match species of either <i>Pheidole</i> or <i>Monomorium</i>, both genera being well-represented in the New Caledonian ant fauna: <i>En étudiant les Fourmis de Nouvelle-Calédonie, on trouve même sans trop de peine que l'Araignée se rapprocherait beaucoup d'un Pheidole ou d'un Monomorium, genres qui y sont très bien représentés</i>. Reiskind &amp; Levi (1967) suggest different candidates as a model for the species they identify as <i>Anatea formicaria</i> (which we have re-identified as a closelY related species, "J5", see Figs 41, 42), they write: " <i>Anatea formicaria</i> is an accurate mimic of the small myrmicine ant <i>Chelaner croceiventre</i> (Emery), 2.6 mm long, which has been collected at the same locality as the spider. The color pattern (dark brown anterior and light, yellow-brown posterior) of both is quite rare in ants and is also found in specimens of <i>Xiphomyrma tenuierius</i> Emery, 2.9 mm. long, and a species of <i>Lordomyrma</i>, 4.8 mm long, two myrmicine ants found in the same area of rain forest (E. O. Wilson, pers. comm.)." The colour description given above, does not match the specimens we have seen of either <i>A. formicaria</i> or "J5", in which the cephalothorax is only slightly darker than the yellow-amber ground colour of the abdominal scute (see Figs 41, 42). This difference maY be due to time since preservation or could represent colour polymorphism within the species "J5", as is recorded in some other myrmecomorphs (see examples in Cushing, 1997). Berland's original description of <i>A. formicaria</i> (1927) gives colouration of cephalothorax, pedicel and abdominal scuta as "light reddish fawn" ("fauve rougeâtre clair") but this is of minimal help as these were dried specimens of uncertain age. Three of the <i>Anatea</i> samples we have examined each contain a single ant, which we deduce may have been included by collector or sorter of the specimens as a putative model. All three ants are of similar appearance (but may not be conspecific) and are from the genus <i>Pheidole.</i> The <i>Pheidole</i> specimens are of pale golden colour, similar to <i>A. formicaria</i> or our species "J5" (and possibly similar to juveniles of species "J1"). All these three <i>Anatea</i> species occur together: QM S10730 and QM S10732 that now contain <i>A. fomicaria</i> and species "J5", respectively, were separated from QM S88025, which now contains species "J1"; QM S88026 contains adults and a juvenile of species "J1" and a subadult <i>A.? formicaria</i>. Of note is the size of the ants, which at c. 1.6 mm total length are considerably smaller than adult <i>Anatea</i> of either similarly coloured species, and slightly smaller than the sub adult male <i>Anatea</i> spp. included in two of the samples.
description: Published as part of <i>Smith, Helen M., Harvey, Mark S., Agnarsson, Ingi &amp; Anderson, Gregory J., 2017, Notes on the Ant-mimic Genus Anatea Berland (Araneae: Theridiidae) and Two New Species from Tropical Australia, pp. 1-13 in Records of the Australian Museum (Rec. Aust. Mus.) (Rec. Aust. Mus.) 69 (1)</i> on page 5, DOI: 10.3853/j.2201-4349.69.2017.1672, http://zenodo.org/record/4676955
description: {"references": ["Berland, L. 1927. Sur une araignee myrmecomorphe de Nouvelle Caledonie. Bulletin de la Societe Entomologique de France 1927: 52 - 55.", "Cushing, P. E. 1997. Myrmecomorphy and myrmecophily in spiders: a review. Florida Entomologist 80: 165 - 193. https: // doi. org / 10.2307 / 3495552"]}