Polyrhachis gracilior

Polyrhachis gracilior is a species of ant found in the southwest and northeast India. It is one of the few ants that build arboreal nests[1] made of leaves stitched together using silk produced by their larvae.

Polyrhachis gracilior
A worker (from the Western Ghats)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Formicinae
Genus: Polyrhachis
Species:
P. gracilior
Binomial name
Polyrhachis gracilior
Forel, 1893

Originally described as a "race" of Polyrhachis furcata, it was elevated to a full species by C T Bingham who noted differences in the shape of the spines.[2] A species described from Travancore as weberi by Horace Donisthorpe in 1943, was identified as being identical to gracilior by Barry Bolton.[3]

  • With a larva
    With a larva
  • Nest between leaves
    Nest between leaves

References
  1. Gaume, Laurence; Megha Shenoy; Merry Zacharias & Renee M. Borges (2006). "Co-existence of ants and an arboreal earthworm in a myrmecophyte of the Indian Western Ghats: anti-predation effect of the earthworm mucus" (PDF). Journal of Tropical Ecology. 22 (3): 341–344. doi:10.1017/S0266467405003111. S2CID 86520579.
  2. Bingham, CT (1903). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Hymenoptera. Volume 2. Taylor and Francis, London. p. 388.
  3. Bolton B (1974). "New synonymy and a new name in the ant genus Polyrhachis F. Smith (Hym., Formicidae)". Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. 109: 172–180.


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