Thaumatomyrmex fraxini sp. nov. (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a new ant species from the Brazilian Atlantic forest

Abstract

A new species of Ponerinae, Thaumatomyrmex fraxini D'Esquivel and Jahyny (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), is described from several localities in Northeastern Brazil, after the morphology of the worker. This species is easily distinguished from any other ones in the genus by a unique combination of characters that justify its allocation to the species-group ferox, sensu Kempf (1975). The known distribution of this species reveals that it inhabits different ecosystems of the Atlantic Forest biome.