Zasphinctus obamai

Notice:

This page is derived from the original publication listed below, whose author(s) should always be credited. Further contributors may edit and improve the content of this page and, consequently, need to be credited as well (see page history). Any assessment of factual correctness requires a careful review of the original article as well as of subsequent contributions. If you are uncertain whether your planned contribution is correct or not, we suggest that you use the associated discussion page instead of editing the page directly. This page should be cited as follows (rationale): Garcia F, Fischer G, Liu C, Audisio T, Economo E (2017) Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics. ZooKeys (693) : 33–93, doi. Versioned wiki page: 2017-08-23, version 161474, https://species-id.net/w/index.php?title=Zasphinctus_obamai&oldid=161474 , contributors (alphabetical order): Pensoft Publishers. Citation formats to copy and paste BibTeX: @article{Garcia2017ZooKeys, author = {Garcia, Francisco Hita AND Fischer, Georg AND Liu, Cong AND Audisio, Tracy L. AND Economo, Evan P.}, journal = {ZooKeys}, publisher = {Pensoft Publishers}, title = {Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics}, year = {2017}, volume = {}, issue = {693}, pages = {33--93}, doi = {10.3897/zookeys.693.13012}, url = {https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=13012}, note = {Versioned wiki page: 2017-08-23, version 161474, https://species-id.net/w/index.php?title=Zasphinctus_obamai&oldid=161474 , contributors (alphabetical order): Pensoft Publishers.} } RIS/ Endnote: TY - JOUR T1 - Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics A1 - Garcia F A1 - Fischer G A1 - Liu C A1 - Audisio T A1 - Economo E Y1 - 2017 JF - ZooKeys JA - VL - IS - 693 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.693.13012 SP - 33 EP - 93 PB - Pensoft Publishers M1 - Versioned wiki page: 2017-08-23, version 161474, https://species-id.net/w/index.php?title=Zasphinctus_obamai&oldid=161474 , contributors (alphabetical order): Pensoft Publishers. M3 - doi:10.3897/zookeys.693.13012 Wikipedia/ Citizendium: <ref name="Garcia2017ZooKeys">{{Citation | author = Garcia F, Fischer G, Liu C, Audisio T, Economo E | title = Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics | journal = ZooKeys | year = 2017 | volume = | issue = 693 | pages = 33--93 | pmid = | publisher = Pensoft Publishers | doi = 10.3897/zookeys.693.13012 | url = https://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=13012 | pmc = | accessdate = 2025-04-03 }} Versioned wiki page: 2017-08-23, version 161474, https://species-id.net/w/index.php?title=Zasphinctus_obamai&oldid=161474 , contributors (alphabetical order): Pensoft Publishers.</ref> See also the citation download page at the journal.

Taxonavigation

Ordo: Hymenoptera
Familia: Formicidae
Genus: Zasphinctus

Name

Zasphinctus obamai Hita Garcia sp. n. – Wikispecies link – ZooBank link – Pensoft Profile

Type material

Holotype, pinned worker, KENYA, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Buyangu, 0.35222, 34.8647, 1640 m, secondary rainforest, leaf litter, collection code FHG00001, VII.-VIII.2004 (F. Hita Garcia) (NMKE: CASENT0764125). Paratypes, seven pinned workers: two with same data as holotype (BMNH: CASENT0764126; MCZC: CASENT0764127); one from KENYA, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Isecheno, equatorial rainforest, sifted litter and soil under Morus mesozygia, 0.34, 34.85, 1550 m, 6.XI.2002 (W. Okeka) (LACM: CASENT0178218; ZFMK: CASENT0764648); two from KENYA, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Kisere Forest Fragment, 0.38505, 34.89378, 1650 m, rainforest, ex leaf litter, Transect 11, collection code FHG00036, 16.VII.2007 (F. Hita Garcia) (NMKE: CASENT0764128; NMKE: CASENT0764129); and one from KENYA, Western Province, Kakamega Forest, Bunyala Forest Fragment, 0.37889, 34.69917, 1448 m, Winkler leaf litter extraction, collection code ANTC39476, VIII.2008 (G. Fischer) (ZFMK: CASENT0764647). Cybertypes, the cybertype dataset consists of all volumetric raw data in DICOM format, 3D PDFs and 3D rotation videos of scans of head, mesosoma, metasoma, and the full body of the physical holotype (NMKE: CASENT0764125) and/or one paratype (MCZC: CASENT0764127) in addition to montage photos illustrating head in full-face view, profile and dorsal views of the body of both specimens. The data is deposited at Dryad and can be freely accessed as virtual representation of both types (Hita Garcia et al. 2017c, http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4s3v1). In addition to the cybertype data at Dryad, we also provide a freely accessible 3D surface model of the holotype at Sketchfab (https://sketchfab.com/models/dfe15a58514c4be89cdeff7f9713091c).

Differential worker diagnosis

See Table 3.

Worker measurements and indices

See Table 4.

Table 4. Morphometric data of the three species treated in this study.

	Z. obamai (N=6)			Z. sarowiwai (N=11)			Z. wilsoni (N=1)
	Min	Max	Mean	Min	Max	Mean
HL	0.55	0.59	0.56	0.78	0.90	0.86	0.60
HW	0.44	0.47	0.45	0.64	0.77	0.73	0.49
SL	0.26	0.31	0.28	0.41	0.50	0.48	0.32
SW	0.12	0.14	0.13	0.17	0.21	0.19	0.12
PH	0.26	0.29	0.27	0.44	0.52	0.49	0.32
PW	0.28	0.33	0.30	0.47	0.55	0.52	0.35
DML	0.53	0.65	0.59	0.85	0.99	0.95	0.66
WL	0.73	0.81	0.77	1.08	1.30	1.22	0.87
MFL	0.33	0.37	0.35	0.58	0.69	0.64	0.49
PTL	0.27	0.29	0.28	0.40	0.47	0.44	0.29
PTH	0.22	0.24	0.23	0.39	0.45	0.42	0.26
PTW	0.23	0.26	0.24	0.41	0.50	0.47	0.27
A3L	0.33	0.39	0.36	0.50	0.59	0.55	0.48
A3W	0.38	0.43	0.41	0.56	0.67	0.63	0.43
A4L	0.26	0.29	0.28	0.41	0.56	0.50	0.31
A4W	0.46	0.52	0.49	0.71	0.83	0.79	0.54
A5L	0.25	0.29	0.27	0.40	0.49	0.45	0.32
A5W	0.47	0.52	0.49	0.71	0.85	0.80	0.55
A6L	0.26	0.30	0.28	0.36	0.41	0.39	0.32
A6W	0.45	0.49	0.47	0.67	0.78	0.73	0.51
CI	78	80	80	82	86	84	82
SI	47	53	50	53	57	55	53
SI2	215	242	228	238	261	247	267
DMI	38	40	39	41	44	42	40
DMI2	49	53	51	53	58	55	53
LMI	34	36	36	40	41	40	37
MFI	75	79	77	88	91	89	100
LPI	117	123	120	102	112	105	112
DPI	82	93	88	101	111	105	93
DA3I	108	115	112	112	117	114	90
DA4I	170	181	176	145	173	159	174
DA5I	174	188	180	167	181	177	172
DA6I	163	173	169	186	197	189	159

Etymology

This species is named in honour of Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America. We want to acknowledge his important efforts undertaken for the conservation of fragile natural habitats around the globe. Also, the type locality of Z. obamai is geographically close to the hometown of Obama’s paternal family in Western Kenya.

Distribution and biology

Zasphinctus obamai is only known from the type locality, the Kakamega Forest in Western Kenya, which is a tropical equatorial rainforest. Despite a thorough ant inventory (Hita Garcia et al. 2009), Z. obamai was only sampled four times making it one of the rarest ant species of the Kakamega Forest. It was only found in the leaf litter layer of primary or near-primary forest habitats. Considering the rarity of this species in the type locality it is possible that it might also be encountered in other rainforest localities westwards of Kakamega, but eluded collections in the past. However, presently, Z. obamai appears to be endemic to this one forest.

Diagnostic comments

Zasphinctus obamai appears to be morphologically closer to Z. wilsoni than to Z. sarowiwai. Among other important differences, Z. obamai and Z. wilsoni are significantly smaller, lack a median clypeal tooth, and have a clearly defined vertexal margin compared to Z. sarowiwai. Zasphinctus obamai and Z. wilsoni can be easily separated by the characters provided above in Table 3. On the basis of the type series, there is no observable intraspecific variation.

Original Description

• Garcia, F; Fischer, G; Liu, C; Audisio, T; Economo, E; 2017: Next-generation morphological character discovery and evaluation: an X-ray micro-CT enhanced revision of the ant genus Zasphinctus Wheeler (Hymenoptera, Formicidae, Dorylinae) in the Afrotropics ZooKeys, (693): 33-93. doi

Images

Figure 3. Map of sub-Saharan Africa showing the known distribution of the Z. obamai sp. n., Z. sarowiwai sp. n., and Z. wilsoni sp. n.  Figure 4. Illustrated diagnostic character matrix based on micro-CT images used for species delimitations (Z. obamai = left column, Z. sarowiwai = middle column, Z. wilsoni = right column). A, B, C Cephalic capsule in profile (virtually dissected) D, E, F Clypeus and torulo-posttorular complex in anterior view G, H, I Anterior head (antennae virtually removed) showing parafrontal ridges (orange) and torulo-posttorular complex (green) J, K, L Antennal scape in dorsal view (virtually dissected) M, N, O Head in posterodorsal view showing vertexal margin (orange), posterior face, and occipital margin (green) P, Q, R Head in posterior view showing occiput and occipital foramen (virtually dissected) (ventral head facing upwards).  Figure 5. Illustrated diagnostic character matrix based on micro-CT images used for species delimitations (Z. obamai = left column, Z. sarowiwai = middle column, Z. wilsoni = right column). A, B, C Posterior head in ventral view showing ventral occipital margin (virtually dissected) D, E, F Head in ventral view showing mouthparts and hypostoma (virtually dissected). G, H, I Mesosoma in profile (orange) with pleural endophragmal pit (green) J, K, L Mesosoma in dorsal view M, N, O Petiole in profile showing petiolar tergum (green) and petiolar sternum (orange) with subpetiolar process P, Q, R Petiole in dorsal view.  Figure 6. Illustrated diagnostic character matrix based on micro-CT images used for species delimitations (Z. obamai = left column, Z. sarowiwai = middle column, Z. wilsoni = right column). A, B, C Subpetiolar process of petiolar sternum in ventral view (virtually dissected) D, E, F Abdominal segment III in dorsal view G, H, I Abdominal segment III (orange) in ventral view with posterior end (green) J, K, L Abdominal segment III in anteroventral view showing prora (virtually dissected) M, N, O Abdominal segment VI in dorsal view P, Q, R Abdominal segments III, IV, V, and VI in ventral view showing girdling constrictions.  Figure 7. Zasphinctus obamai sp. n. holotype worker (CASENT0764125). A Body in profile B Body in dorsal view C Head in full-face view D Abdominal segments III–VII in dorsal view.  Figure 8. Shaded surface display volume renderings of 3D models of Zasphinctus obamai sp. n. paratype worker (CASENT0764127). A Head in full-face dorsal view B Head in anterodorsal view C Anterior cephalic dorsum and mandibles in anterodorsal view D Head in ventral view E Occiput in posterior view (ventral head facing upwards) F Head in posterodorsal view G Mesosoma in profile H Mesosoma in dorsal view I Abdominal segment II (petiole) in profile J Abdominal segment II (petiole) in dorsal view K Abdominal segment II (petiole) in ventral view L Abdominal segments III–VII in profile M Abdominal segments III and IV in dorsal view N Abdominal segments V–VII in dorsal view O Abdominal segments III–VII in ventral view.  Figure 13. Shaded surface display volume renderings of 3D models of mouthparts (excluding mandibles) in closed configuration (green=maxillae; yellow=labrum; orange=labium). A Zasphinctus obamai sp. n. (CASENT0764127) B Zasphinctus sarowiwai sp. n. (CASENT0764654) C Zasphinctus wilsoni sp. n. (MCZ-ENT-00512764).  Figure 16. Comparison of full body scan versus single body part scans based on Zasphinctus obamai sp. n. holotype (CASENT0764125) and paratype worker (CASENT0764127). A Full body scan (CASENT0764125) B Scan of head (CASENT0764125) C Scan of mesosoma (CASENT0764127) D Scan of metasoma showing abdominal segments III to VII in profile (CASENT0764127).