The Ants of Egypt SUBFAMILY PONERINAE - Genus Ponera Latreille

Genus Ponera Latreille (1804: 179)

In Tribe PONERINI.

Diagnostic Features - Middle and hind tibiae with a single pectinate spur; mandibles unspecialised; integument finely or densely punctate, at least gaster with abundant pubescence; clypeus unarmed; antenna without distinct club; eyes small, sometimes obsolete or absent (from Wheeler, 1922). Note that Bernard (1952) separated two subgenera Ponera and Hypoponera on the basis of the presence of a groove or at least clear suture between the mesonotum and the propodeum in the former, and no more than a dorsally visible suture on the latter. Latreille's (1804) genus definition is at .

The most recent Genus revision is that of R. W. Taylor (1967) but presently, I find the present situation somewhat confusing. Bolton (1995) provided an extensively revised list for Ponera and Hypoponera with a number denotated as a "new combination" but in many cases the justification is neither given nor indicated. At the genus level, by deduction, it seems that the authority lay in work being undertaken by W.L. Brown, or else was an extrapolation from Taylor (1967) - as Bolton (1995, 32, 43, 360) noted Hypoponera "raised to genus" and Ponera "Revision of genus: Taylor, 1967". Ponera he gave as "Holarctic, Oriental, Indo-Australian, Australasian" and listed some 32 extant species, of which all but four are from the Western Pacific rim. The exceptions being P. coarctata (type loc. Luxembourg, plus ssp from southern European and western Asia localities), P. sysphinctoides (type loc. France), P. exotica (type loc. USA) and P. pennsylvanica (type loc. USA). Hypoponera was denoted as "worldwide". Bolton (1973a) wrote how - "true Ponera, as defined by Taylor (1967) does not occur in West Africa", which is curious as Bernard's work (1952) was listed by Bolton.

The key defining character Taylor (1967a: 9) used for separation of Ponera from Hypoponera was the presence in Ponera of a highly characteristic subpetiolar process; usually shallow, with a rounded or bluntly angled anteroventral corner, and a more or less distinctly angled posteroventral one. The latter is composed of 2 separate, small to large, right-angled acute teeth, situated side by side, and sometimes inclined posterolaterally. Anteriorly, the subpetiolar process has a more or less distinct circular or oval thin-spot, or fenestra, visible in transmitted light. This fenestra is never present in Hypoponera.

R W Taylor affirmed Ponera coarctata as the type species. The recent collection from South Africa appears to be the first definite record of any true Ponera from sub-Saharan Africa and my photograph of the specimen shows the clear spot in the sub-petiolar process.

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