Myrmoteras

Myrmoteras is a genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae and the sole member of the tribe Myrmoteratini. They have enormous eyes, a character found in other ancient genera, and extremely elongated mandibles with eight to 16 teeth. These work as trap-jaws and can open up to 270°.

Species

GENUS

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHymenoptera
FamilyFormicidae

Observations recorded280

via GBIF

Museum specimens

Specimen records: 19
With media: 8
Family: Formicidae
Collections: USNM, OMNH, CAS, FMNH
Recorded in: Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia

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Wikidata facts

Instance of: taxon
Parent taxon: Formicidae
Image: Myrmoteras iriodum casent0003210 profile 1.jpg

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Commons category: Myrmoteras
taxon name: Myrmoteras
taxon rank: genus
topic's main category: Category:Myrmoteras

Sources (1)

wikidata.org

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Encyclopedic overview

5 sections

Contents

Description
Distribution
Species
References
External links

==Description== thumb|left|250px|Trap-jawed ants: Strumigenys, Daceton, Odontomachus, Anochetus, Myrmoteras While the elongated mandibles look superficially similar to those of the basal Myrmecia, the mechanism is, as a whole, totally dissimilar and is rather convergent to that of the ponerine genera Anochetus and Odontomachus, and the myrmicine Strumigenys. The trigger mechanism of the trap-jaw-like mandibles of Myrmoteras consists of two hairs. Other trap-jawed genera are Daceton, Acanthognathus, Orectognathus, Microdaceton, and Epitritus.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Myrmoteras” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.