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Taxonomic History (provided by Barry Bolton, 2021)

Taxon Page Images:

Hypoponera opacior, worker and ergatoid male. Most ant males are wasp-like and winged, adapted for dispersing away from their home nest to mate with queens from other colonies. But some Hypoponera males are inbreeding specialists. These pale creatures are worker-like in appearance and mate with their sisters in the nest. Archbold Biological Station, Florida, USA.
Image © Alex Wild. // Distribution

Distribution:

  Geographic regions (According to curated Geolocale/Taxon lists):
    Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Macaronesia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe
    Americas: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, French Guiana, Galapagos Islands, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela
    Asia: Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Oman, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Vietnam, Yemen
    Europe: Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom
    Oceania: American Samoa, Australia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Micronesia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands
  Biogeographic regions (According to curated Bioregion/Taxon lists):
    Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oceania, Palearctic
  Native biogeographic regions (according to species list records):
    Afrotropical, Australasia, Indomalaya, Malagasy, Nearctic, Neotropical, Oceania, Palearctic

Biology:

These are small, cryptic ants, nesting in soil or wood. The workers are predators on small arthropods, but they are seldom seen foraging above ground.

Identification:

Worker: frontal lobes contiguous, not separated by a conspicuous posterior extension of the clypeus; eyes reduced or absent; hind tibia with a single spur; petiole attached near lower margin of abdominal segment 3; subpetiolar process a simple lobe, lacking sharp posteroventral teeth or angles.

Notes:

This cosmopolitan genus is most common and diverse in the tropics. Four species are known from California, of which two are apparently introduced.

References:

Onoyama (1989b); Taylor (1967a); Yamauchi et al. (1996).

Taxonomic Treatment (provided by Plazi)

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