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A morphometric study of worker variation in threeMyrmecia species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

Etude morphométrique de la variabilité chez les ouvrières de trois espèces deMyrmecia (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

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Summary

Myrmecia froggatti Forel andM. varians Mayr workers show monomorphism with limited size variability, while those ofM. simillima exhibit biphasic monomorphism with considerable size variation. Coefficient of variability values calculated for four characters provided a good measure of species size variation. Frequency histograms of head length against head width were distinetly unimodal in one colony ofM. froggatti and three colonies ofM. varians, and bimodal in the five colonies ofM. simillima.

Résumé

Les ouvrières deMyrmecia froggatti Forel et deM. varians Mayr présentent un monomorphisme avec une faible variabilité de la taille, tandis que celles deM. simillima montrent un dimorphisme avec une considérable variation de la taille. Les valeurs des coefficients de variabilité calculés pour quatre caractères fournissent une bonne mesure de la variation spécifique de la taille. Les histogrammes de fréquence du rapport longueur/largeur de la tête sont unimodaux pour une colonie deM. froggatti et trois colonies deM. varians et bimodaux pour cinq colonies deM. simillima.

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Gray, B. A morphometric study of worker variation in threeMyrmecia species (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Ins. Soc 20, 323–331 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02226085

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