Zootaxa 4105 (6): 501–545 ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) http://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Article ZOOTAXA Copyright © 2016 Magnolia Press ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4105.6.1 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:DCB6A5BB-46C9-4D05-8B4A-C6E4CBABB6F5 The myrmicine ant genus Metapone Forel (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a global taxonomic review with descriptions of twelve new species ROBERT W. TAYLOR1, 2 & GARY D. ALPERT3 1 Research School of Biological Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2600, Australia 2Honorary Research Fellow, CSIRO National Collections, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] 3Entomology Department, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A. E-mail: [email protected] Table of contents Abstract . 502 Introduction . 502 Bionomics . 502 Methods . 504 General and taxonomic characters . 506 Synopsis of world Metapone species . 507 Genus Metapone Forel . 507 A. The African and Madagascan species . 507 Key to African and Madagascan Metapone species (Workers) . 508 1. Metapone madagascarica Gregg, 1958 . 508 2. Metapone emersoni Gregg, 1958 . 509 3. Metapone vincimus Alpert, 2007 . 510 4. Metapone africana sp.n. 511 B. The species of South and South-East Asia, the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines. 512 Key to the Asian species of Metapone . 512 5. Metapone greeni Forel, 1911 . 513 6. Metapone sauteri Forel, 1912 . 515 7. Metapone bakeri Wheeler, 1916 . 516 8. Metapone hewitti Wheeler, 1919. 517 9. Metapone jacobsoni Crawley, 1924 . 518 10. Metapone gracilis Wheeler, 1935 . 520 11. Metapone quadridentata Eguchi, 1998 . 521 12. Metapone balinensis sp.n. 523 13. Metapone javana sp.n. 523 14. Metapone wallaceana sp.n. 524 The Micronesian, Melanesian and Pacific species . 525 Key to the Micronesian, Melanesian and Pacific species of Metapone . 525 15. Metapone krombeini M.R. Smith, 1947 . 525 16. Metapone truki M.R. Smith, 1953. 526 17. Metapone enigmatica sp.n. 529 18. Metapone manni sp.n. 529 19. Metapone philwardi sp.n. 530 20. Metapone salomonis sp.n. 531 21. Metapone titan sp.n. 532 The Australian species. 533 Key to the Australian species of Metapone . 533 22. Metapone mjobergi Forel, 1915 . 534 23. Metapone leae Wheeler, 1919. 536 24. Metapone tillyardi Wheeler, 1919. 537 25. Metapone tricolor McAreavey, 1949 . 539 26. Metapone hoelldobleri sp.n. 540 27. Metapone mathinnae sp.n. 542 Accepted by J. Longino: 27 Jan. 2016; published: 27 Apr. 2016 501 28. Metapone tecklini sp.n. 543 Acknowledgments . 544 References . ..