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Hymenoptera, Formicidae) 1 Doi: 10.3897/Zookeys.700.11784 Research Article Launched to Accelerate Biodiversity Research

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Hymenoptera, Formicidae) 1 Doi: 10.3897/Zookeys.700.11784 Research Article Launched to Accelerate Biodiversity Research A peer-reviewed open-access journal ZooKeys 700: 1–420 (2017)Revision of the ant genus Melophorus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) 1 doi: 10.3897/zookeys.700.11784 RESEARCH ARTICLE http://zookeys.pensoft.net Launched to accelerate biodiversity research Revision of the ant genus Melophorus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) Brian E. Heterick1,2, Mark Castalanelli3, Steve O. Shattuck4 1 Curtin University of Technology, GPO Box U1987, Perth WA, Australia, 6845 2 Western Australian Museum, Locked Bag 49, Welshpool DC. WA, Australia, 6986 3 EcoDiagnostics Pty Ltd, 48 Banksia Rd, Welshpool WA 6106 4 C/o CSIRO Entomology, P. O. Box 1700, Canberra, Australia, ACT 2601 Corresponding author: Brian Heterick ([email protected]) Academic editor: B. Fisher | Received 17 January 2017 | Accepted 22 June 2017 | Published 20 September 2017 http://zoobank.org/EBA43227-20AD-4CFF-A04E-8D2542DDA3D6 Citation: Heterick BE, Castalanelli M, Shattuck SO (2017) Revision of the ant genus Melophorus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). ZooKeys 700: 1–420. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.700.11784 Abstract The fauna of the purely Australian formicine ant genus Melophorus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) is revised. This project involved integrated morphological and molecular taxonomy using one mitochondrial gene (COI) and four nuclear genes (AA, H3, LR and Wg). Seven major clades were identified and are here designated as the M. aeneovirens, M. anderseni, M. biroi, M. fulvihirtus, M. ludius, M. majeri and M. potteri species-groups. Within these clades, smaller complexes of similar species were also identified and designated species-complexes. The M. ludius species-group was identified purely on molecular grounds, as the morphol- ogy of its members is indistinguishable from typical members of the M. biroi species-complex within the M. biroi species-group. Most species-complexes sampled were also found to be monophyletic. Sequencing gen- erally supported monophyly in taxa sampled but some species of the M. fieldi complex and M. biroi were not monophyletic and the implications arising from this are discussed in this monograph. Based on morphol- ogy, ninety-three species are recognized, 73 described as new. A further new species (here called 'Species K' [TERC Collection]) is noted in the taxonomic list, but is not described in this work. One species is removed from Melophorus: M. scipio Forel is here placed provisionally in Prolasius. Six species and five subspecies pass into synonymy. Of the full species, M. constans Santschi, M. iridescens (Emery) and M. insularis Wheeler are synonymized under M. aeneovirens (Lowne), M. pillipes Santschi is synonymized under M. turneri Forel, M. marius Forel is synonymized under M. biroi Forel, and M. omniparens Forel is synonymized under M. wheeleri Forel. Of the subspecies, M. iridescens fraudatrix and M. iridescens froggatti Forel are synonymized under M. aeneovirens (Lowne), M. turneri aesopus Forel and M. turneri candidus Santschi are synonymized under M. turneri Forel and M. fieldi propinqua Viehmeyer is synonymized under M. biroi. Camponotus cowlei Froggatt is reinstated as a junior synonym of Melophorus bagoti Lubbock. In addition, the subspecies M. fieldi majorForel, M. ludius sulla Forel and M. turneri perthensis Forel are raised to species. A key to work- ers of the genus is supplied. A lectotype is designated for M. curtus Forel, M. sulla, and M. turneri. Copyright Brian E. Heterick et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 2 Brian E. Heterick et al. / ZooKeys 700: 1–420 (2017) Keywords Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Formicinae, Melophorus, taxonomy, new species, Australia. T able of contents Introduction ............................................................................................................. 3 Taxonomic history ............................................................................................... 3 Biology and ecology ............................................................................................. 5 Homing strategies ................................................................................................ 8 The current position of Melophorus....................................................................... 9 Biomonitoring potential ....................................................................................... 9 Phylogeny: materials and methods.......................................................................... 10 Sources of material and images ........................................................................... 10 Abbreviations of depositories .............................................................................. 11 Measurements and indices ................................................................................. 11 Molecular phylogenetics ..................................................................................... 12 Tissue collection ............................................................................................. 14 DNA extraction ............................................................................................. 14 Amplification and angerS sequencing ............................................................. 14 Amplification and amplicon sequencing ......................................................... 13 Data analysis .................................................................................................. 14 Phylogenetic analysis ...................................................................................... 14 Evolutionary history ........................................................................................... 21 Results .................................................................................................................... 15 Mitochondrial and nuclear sequence data ........................................................... 15 Phylogenetic analysis and discussion .................................................................. 17 Evolutionary history discussion .......................................................................... 21 Classification and taxonomy: results ....................................................................... 22 Genus Melophorus Lubbock 1883 ....................................................................... 22 Worker diagnosis ............................................................................................ 22 Queen diagnosis ............................................................................................. 23 Male diagnosis ............................................................................................... 23 Worker description (minor, major worker) ..................................................... 23 Synopsis of Melophorus species ....................................................................... 25 Key to Melophorus species based on workers ................................................... 28 Descriptions ................................................................................................... 74 Melophorus aeneovirens species-group .............................................................. 74 Melophorus aeneovirens complex ................................................................. 74 Melophorus bagoti complex ....................................................................... 133 Melophorus nemophilus complex ............................................................... 142 Melophorus anderseni species-group .............................................................. 146 Melophorus biroi species-group ..................................................................... 158 Revision of the ant genus Melophorus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) 3 Melophorus biroi complex ......................................................................... 158 Melophorus brevignathus complex ............................................................. 219 Melophorus fieldi complex ......................................................................... 229 Melophorus oblongiceps complex ................................................................ 325 Melophorus wheeleri complex .................................................................... 328 Melophorus fulvihirtus species-group ............................................................. 377 Melophorus ludius species-group ................................................................... 383 Melophorus hirsutus complex .................................................................... 383 Melophorus ludius complex ....................................................................... 387 Melophorus majeri species-group ................................................................... 400 Melophorus potteri species-group ................................................................... 403 Species removed from Melophorus ................................................................ 412 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... 413 References ............................................................................................................ 414 Supplementary material 1 ..................................................................................... 420 Introduction Melophorus is an easily characterized
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