First Record of Brachyponera obscurans (Walker, 1859) (Hymenoptera-Formicidae) from Southern India
D. Nagarajan
Marine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Chennai-600028, Tamil Nadu, India.
S. Prabakaran
*
Marine Biology Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Chennai-600028, Tamil Nadu, India.
V. Soundararajan
ICFRE-Tropical Forest Research Institute, Jabalpur-482 021, Madhya Pradesh, India.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper presents the first record of Brachyponera obscurans (Walker, 1859) from southern India, specifically from the Kolli Hills in Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu. This record expands the known distribution of the species beyond the northern states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh to the Eastern Ghats of southern India. Previously found in tropical and subtropical East Asia and Sri Lanka, this Ponerinae ant is now known to occur in an underrepresented area of southern India.
Keywords: Brachyponera obscurans, hymenoptera, formicidae, ponerinae ants, new record, Southern India