NOTES ON THE RUSSIAN ENDEMIC ANT GENUS 
AULACOPONE ARNOLDI 
(HYMENOPTERA: FORMICIDAE)* 
By Robert W. Taylor 
Australian National Insect Collection 
CSIRO, Division of Entomology 
P. O. Box 1700, Canberra City, A.C.T. 
Australia 
Introduction 
The ponerine ant genus Aulacopone, and its only known species A. 
relicta, were described by Arnoldi (1930) from a unique dealate 
female collected at Alazapin, near Lenkoran (38° 45'N., 48° 50'E.), in 
Azerbaydzhan S.S.R., near its border with Iran. The specimen was 
taken in galleries of the formicine ant Lasius emarginatus (Olivier), 
under the bark of an oak stump, in Talisch mid-montane forest. The 
holotype, which I have not seen, is reportedly in the collection of the 
Zoological Institute, Leningrad. A second, previously unreported 
dealate female of A. relicta, now in the Arnoldi collection at the 
Institute of Evolutionary Animal Morphology, Moscow, was taken 
by Arnoldi on Mt. Gugljaband, near Alekseevka, Azerbaydzhan, in 
1936. The only important reference to this species, apart from Ar- 
noldi’s paper, is in Brown’s 11958a) reclassification of tribe Ectatom- 
mini. These articles by Arnoldi and Brown are essential references to 
this paper. 
Aulacopone is the only extant genus of subfamily Ponerinae with 
known distribution limited to some part of Holarctica. In addition it 
is one of only two ant genera known exclusively from the Soviet 
Union, the other being Rossomyrmex Arnoldi (subfamily Formi- 
cinae). 
Following a recent visit to Moscow (under the Australia/U.S.S.R. 
Science Exchange Agreement) I was permitted by Dr. Arnoldi and 
Dr. A. A. Zakharov to carry the over-glued Mt. Gugljaband speci¬ 
men to Australia on loan, there to re-mount, clean and prepare it for 
examination by scanning electron microscopy. This paper is the 
result. The general accuracy of Arnoldi’s original description is con- 
‘Manuscript received by the editor April 18, 1980 
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