Iroponera (from Latin ironia, "assumed ignorance", -pone, from the name of the subfamily) is a monotypic genus of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae. Iroponera odax,[1] the single described species, is known only from a few collections in Australia (including Tasmania).[2]

Iroponera
Iroponera odax worker
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Formicidae
Subfamily: Ponerinae
Tribe: Ponerini
Genus: Iroponera
Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014
Species:
I. odax
Binomial name
Iroponera odax
Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014

Workers are orange-colored and small in size (2.6 mm). Queens and males remain unknown. Little is known about their biology, but their small eyes indicate a subterranean lifestyle.[2]

References edit

  1. ^ Bolton, B. (2015). "Iroponera". AntCat. Retrieved 6 January 2015.
  2. ^ a b Schmidt, C. A.; Shattuck, S. O. (2014). "The Higher Classification of the Ant Subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a Review of Ponerine Ecology and Behavior". Zootaxa. 3817 (1): 1–242. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1. PMID 24943802.