Diversity, Distribution, and Evolutionary History
With over 700 described species divided into 13 subgenera and numerous species groups, the formicine ant genus Polyrhachis represents one of the most morphologically and behaviorally diverse genus of ants. These medium-sized ants are often recognizable by the presence of spines, their colorful integument, the lack of a meta pleural gland, and the enlarged first segment of the gaster, which can be as long as ½ to ¾ of the length of the gaster as a whole. Restricted to Old-World biogeographic regions, the genus achieves its greatest diversity in the Indo-Malayan, Oriental and Australasian regions [2]. Molecular evidence suggests the group originated in SE Asia approx. 58 million years ago, dispersing once to Africa and several times to Australia [8].
With the exception of the polyphyletic subgenus Myrmhopla (a recognized “waste basket group” [2]), each of the remaining 12 subgenera are morphologically distinct and easily recognizable, a...
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Robson, S. (2021). Spiny Ants (Polyrhachis). In: Starr, C.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Insects. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28102-1_115
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