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Dinoponera longipes

Dinoponera longipes
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Genus: Dinoponera
Species: D. longipes
Binomial name
Dinoponera longipes
Emery, 1901

Dinoponera longipes is a queenless species of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae.

Dinoponera longipes have been collected in eastern Peru in the departments of Loreto, Amazonas, Huánuco, San Martín and Pasco, as well as Ecuador in the province of Pastaza. In Colombia it has been recorded near the Peruvian border in the department of Amazonas. In Brazil, Dinoponera longipes has been found in Acre, Amazonas as far east as Manaus, as well as along the Rio Madeira in Rondônia.

Doubt was raised by Kempf (1971) as to whether Dinoponera longipes was a valid species. Since few specimens have been collected from western Brazil a clinal variation in character form with Dinoponera gigantea or Dinoponera mutica was a possibility. Specimens from Brazil examined by Lenhart, Dash & MacKay (2013) showed no such integration. Additionally, evidence of species validity comes from the unique morphology of the male. The nearest known locality of another species is Dinoponera gigantea 550 km away at Estirón Rio Ampiacu in the Loreto Region, Perú. There is a possibility that these could be males of a yet undiscovered species. However, relatively intensive collecting of Dinoponera in the area by numerous collectors has not revealed any other form.


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