I designed tonight’s challenge for the taxonomists.
The small paper labels above are associated with a particular preserved ant specimen. I photographed these in the natural history museum where the ant is housed. I also photographed the specimen, but I won’t show that to you just yet.
My questions are:
1. The pink label states “Lectotypus”. What does that mean? (2 points)
2. What is the name of the museum? (2 points)
3. What does “St. Cathar.” mean? (1 point)
4. In what genus is this species currently classified? (1 point)
5. In the montage below, which ant is most likely conspecific with our mystery ant? (4 points)
I will award points to the first person to provide correct answers to each question. The cumulative points winner for the month of December will win their choice of 1) any 8×10-sized print from my photo galleries, or 2) a guest post here on Myrmecos.
Good luck!
A personal blog by Illinois-based biologist and photographer Alex Wild.
4. hypoponera
5. A
1. Lectotype?
2. Universität Wien?
3. St. Catherine’s?
4. Hypoponera
5. C
My best guess …
4. Genus Hypoponera
hahahahah Toooo late!
Actually, my best guess was to alert Júlio that this mystery was online!
1. a lectotype is designated when you have a series of workers from the original description and one of them is choosed to be the type
…subsequently
2. Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
St. Cathar = Santa Catarina state, Brazil.
1. lectotype, primary type designated after description
2. Natural History Museum in Vienna
3. Santa Catarina, Brazil
4. Hypoponera
5. A
Lectotype- it is a name-bearing type designated from a syntype (that means that Mayr did not designate a holotype).
3. “St. Cathar.” is the abbreviation of the brazilian state in which this species was first collected, i.e. Santa Catarina state
It seems Borgmeier’s label… Is it from MZSP in Sao Paulo?
Borgmeier or Kempf, I am confused now; but anyway it seems a MZSP specimen…
That pink label is really a Kempf label – he designated the Lectotype (1967). In such publication he said the museum of Viena sent to him 4 specimens as a loan, so probably he sent them back from MZSP…
[...] Monday’s challenge required knowledge of several rather arcane topics: myrmecological history, taxonomic methods, Brazilian geography, and ant identification. Nonetheless, I was impressed with how quickly you guys came up with the answers. [...]