A New Metapone from the Micronesian Islands (Hymenoptera, Formicidæ)

Abstract

Among the numerous Micronesian ants sent me for study by the Pacific Science Board, there is a new species of Metapone from Moen Island, Truk, which is described below. So far as I am aware, it is the first species of the genus to be recorded from the Micronesian Islands, although all the other previously de scribed species are from the Oriental and Australian faunal realms. Since Truk was highly fortified by the Japanese before the Second World War, there must have been a great amount of imports then and it is quite likely that this new species may have been introduced. Certainly, one must be cautious in accepting the form as strictly indigenous. The 12 previously described species are bakeri Whlr. (1916) and gracilis Whlr. (1935), the Philippines; greeni Forel (1911) the genotype, and johni Kara wajew (1933), Ceylon; hewvitti Whlr. (1919), Borneo; jacobsoni Craw. (1924), Sumatra; sauteri Forel (1912), Formosa; krom beini M. R. Sm. (1947), New Guinea; lew Whlr. (1919), mjoe bergi Forel, (1915), tillyardi Whlr. (1919) and tricolor Mac Areavey (1949) Australia. These very interesting and highly aberrant ants undoubtedly belong to the subfamily Myrmicinae, but their exact phylogenetic status and relationships have not yet been determined. The ants are believed to nest in small colonies within the cavities of plants and to feed on termites.