Genus Mystrium Roger, 1862a: 245
In Tribe AMBLYOPONINI
Diagnostic Features - Elongated mandibles,
blunt at
the apex, but longer than the head, with a double tooth-row on the
inner margin. Sculpture coarse and with spatulate hairs on the head.
Roger's (1862a) genus definition, of the queen, type species M. mysticum from Madagascar, is at .
See http://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=mystrium&rank=genus&project=worldants for more genus examples.
|
Hölldobler
& Wilson (1990, page 569) note that
members of the genus are among those ants which show a capacity to snap
their jaws, probably as a defensive mechanism. The SEM illustration is
an unnamed species shown in Bolton (1994).
Genus revised by Menozzi (1929d) but includes only one
species
from mainland Africa - Mystrium
silvestrii Santschi.
|