Aenictus
From Shuckard, (1840) [1]
Body elongate cylindrical.
Head small, transverse, flat.
Antenna short, setaceous, curved, inserted upon the anterior margin of the clypeus, and notquite so long as the insertion of the superior wings, the scape about one-third the length of theflagelium, the joints of the latter equal.
Eyes globose, lateral, and very prominent.
Ocelli placed in a slight curve upon the vertex, large and very prominent.
Mandibles edentate, elongate, slender, compressed, very much curved, slightly broader at the base, and forcipate.
Labrum truncated at the apex, where it is emarginate in the centre.
Maxillae , Maxillary palpi ,Labial palpi :The internal trophi I am obliged to pass over, but as they are scarcely distinguishable in the large species of Dorylus in a small insect like the present, which is at least fifty times less, the investigation would incur a certainty of destruction without possibly effecting the object; but it is quite sufficiently distinguished by its more obvious characters.
Thorax short, oval : collar or proihorax more developed than in Dorylus, and not concealed in front by the gibbosity of the mesothorax : scutellum quadrate, very gibbous, slightly projecting over the metathorax, which is perpendicular.
Tegulae: small but distinct.
Superior wings with a large stigma, one acuminated, marginal cell angulated and two submarginal cells, the first of is smaller within, than the second, and receives the recurrent nervure at nearly three- fourths of its length.
Legs short and slender: coxae robust, canaliculated above for the articulation of the femur: trockanter not distinct: femora and tibice slender and subcylindrical, the latter furnished at their apex with a single calcar: tarsi slender, longer than the tibiae, the basal joint as long as the three following, the fourth joint the shortest: the claws simple.
Abdomen elongate, curved downwards, cylindrical and slightly clavate; the dorsal segments, but especially the terminal ones, slightly constricted; the penultimate segment much shorter than the antepenultimate, and forming merely a transverse slip; the first segment, which forms the peduncle, quadrate, the angles rounded; above deeply channeled down the middle, which gives it a bilobate appearance, beneath earinated and flattened laterally from this carina: the apical segment obtuse and rounded.
References
- W. Edward Shuckard, “Monograph of the Dorylidae, a family of the Hymenoptera Heterogyna. (Continued from p. 201.).”, Annals of Natural History, vol. 5, pp. 258-271, 1840.
From Aktaç et al. (2014) [1]
Workers of Aenictus have predominantly terrestrial habits, foraging in soil, leaf litter or on the ground surface where they hunt mainly other ants or termites. Workers are small (2.5–3.5 mm), monomorphic (with one known exception until now, see Yamane and Yoshiaki 1999), blind, yellow to brownish yellow in colour, with smooth and shiny teguments; they have a 2-segmented waist (whereas that of queens and males is 1-segmented) and 8–10 jointed antennae. Additionally they are characterized by reduced and vertical frontal lobes, so that antennal sockets are completely exposed and almost fused, and by an inflexible promesonotum with vestigial to absent promesonotal suture (see also Bolton 1994, Aktaç and Radchenko 2002).
References
- N. Aktaç, Radchenko, A. G., and Kiran, K., “On the taxonomy of the West Palaearctic Aenictinae ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).”, Annales Zoologici (Warsaw), vol. 54, pp. 361-364, 2004.
From Aktaç et al. (2014) [1]
Genus Aenictus Shuckard, 1840 belongs to the monotypic ant subfamily Aenictinae. Previously Aenictinae Emery, 1901 and Ecitoninae Forel, 1893 were considered as tribes of the subfamily Dorylinae Leach, 1815, but Bolton (1990) separated Aenictinae from Dorylinae. Members of these three subfamilies, together with the subfamily Cerapchyinae Forel, 1893, are collectively referred as “army ants” (or sometimes “driver ants” or “legionary ants”). All are predators, which do not have permanent nests and are nomadic (for details see Wheeler 1910, Gotwald 1982, 1995, Hölldobler and Wilson 1990). Their reproductive queens have extremely enlarged gaster and often cannot move without the help of workers. Most of species live in the tropical regions of the Old World (Aenictinae and Dorylinae), New World (Ecitoninae) or are pan-tropical (Cerapachyinae).
References
- N. Aktaç, Radchenko, A. G., and Kiran, K., “On the taxonomy of the West Palaearctic Aenictinae ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).”, Annales Zoologici (Warsaw), vol. 54, pp. 361-364, 2004.
