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Kempfidris : a new genus of myrmicine ants from the Neotropical region (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)
(2014)
The new genus Kempfidris gen. nov. is described based on the workers of a single species, K. inusualis comb. nov., from Brazil, Ecuador, and Venezuela. Kempfidris inusualis comb. nov. was originally described by Fernández (2007) and provisionally placed in Monomorium awaiting a better understanding of the internal relationships in Myrmicinae. Kempfidris gen. nov. has a series of distinctive morphological characters including the mandibular configuration, vestibulate propodeal spiracle, propodeal carinae, and cylindrical micro-pegs on the posteromedian portion of abdominal tergum VI and anteromedian portion of abdominal tergum VII. This last trait appears to be autapomorphic for the genus.
In 1887, Mayr described four species of the ant genus Strumigenys collected in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina: Strumigenys unidentata, Strumigenys subedentata, Strumigenys denticulata, and Strumigenys crassicornis. All of them were described based on a series of one to several specimens, without designation of a holotype, as usual at that time. The same can be said about Strumigenys eggersi, described by Emery in 1890 based on specimens collected in Saint Thomas (U.S. Virgin Islands), without designation of a holotype. In 1961, Brown designated a lectotype for S. unidentata and synonymized it under Strumigenys louisianae. However, the specimens belonging to the type series of the other four species remain as syntypes. Considering that these are four of the most frequently collected species of Strumigenys in the Neotropical region, in this work we provide lectotype designations and complete redescriptions for S. crassicornis, S. denticulata, S. eggersi, and S. subedentata to ensure the taxonomic stability of these names.