Polyrhachis bihamata (Drury 1773)

Java, Laos, Sumatra, Philippines, India, China

Formica bihamata Fabricius, 1775 PDF: 394 (w.) Type-locality in error, not Madagascar. Indomalaya. Primary type information: Insula St. Iohannis Indiae AntCat AntWiki HOL

Taxonomic history

[Note: Fabricius, 1775 PDF: 394, attributes this taxon to Drury, 1773 PDF: 73, pl. 38, figs. 7, 8 (w.) ("from the island of Johanna, near Madagascar"). Drury’s work contains both description and illustration, but the species is not named.].[Note: type-locality was recorded as "Insula St. Iohannis Indiae" by Fabricius, 1782: 493, Fabricius, 1793: 361, Fabricius, 1804 PDF: 411; as "Insel St. Johannis und Madagaskar" by Christ, 1791 PDF: 509; as "île de Sainte-Jeanne, près de Madagascar" by Olivier, 1792: 499, Latreille, 1802a PDFc: 128. Type-locality in error, not Madagascar, after Bolton, 1973b PDF: 352.].Emery, 1887a PDF: 238 (q.); Donisthorpe, 1942b PDF: 70 (m.); Wheeler & Wheeler, 1990b PDF: 763 (l.).Combination in Polyrhachis: Smith, 1857a PDF: 59.Senior synonym of Polyrhachis affinis (Le Guillou, 1842): Mayr, 1872 PDF: 139; Dalla Torre, 1893 PDF: 259.Senior synonym of Polyrhachis bihamata minor: Hung, 1970 PDF: 16; Kohout, 1998: 508.Senior synonym of Polyrhachis bihamata perplexa: Hung, 1970 PDF: 16; Kohout, 1998: 508.Senior synonym of Polyrhachis bihamata tonsilis: Hung, 1970 PDF: 16; Kohout, 1998: 508.

Formica bihamata, Drury , Ins. ii. pl. 38. f. 7, 8 [[worker]].

Fabr. Syst. Ent.394.21; Ent. Syst. ii.361.49; Syst. Piez, 411, 66.

Sulz. Gesch. Ins. t. 27. f. 19.

Oliv. Encycl. Meth. vi. 499.

Latr. Hist. Nat. Fourm. 127.

Polyrhachis bihamatus , Smith, Proc. Linn. Soc. ii. 59.

Hab. India; Sumatra; Borneo.

The specimens received from Borneo are much smaller and of a paler colour than those from India; there is also a slight difference in the form of the curved spines which arm the node of the abdomen, being parallel to each other full half of their length, whilst in examples from India the spines diverge from their base.