Aenictus hilli Clark

Aenictus hilli Clark Aenictus hilli Clark, 1928: 38. Types. Holotype male from Malanda, Queensland (ANIC, examined). Comments. A. hilli was described by Clark (1928) from a single male collected at Malanda, Queensland. There are numerous males in ANIC which are morphologically similar to the type of A. hilli. Unfortunately none are associated with workers. In addition, the remaining described Australian species are all worker-based and without associated males. This makes it impossible to positively associate A. hilli with any of these other species. Distribution patterns give little clue as to the association either as Aenictus aratus, A. nesiotis,A. prolixus and A. turneri all occur in the general area of the type locality of A. hilli. Thus there is currently insufficient information to associate A. hilli, or any of these other males, with any of the worker-based species. As a result A. hilli is here treated as a valid species and these additional males tentatively associated with it until such time that worker-associated males or fresh material suitable for molecular analysis can be secured. Material examined (all unassociated males). Australia: Northern Territory: 34 mi. NW of Dorisvale HS (Mendum,M.) (ANIC); 39 km E of Alice Springs (Cardale,J.C.) (ANIC); 4 mi. W of Coolibah H.S. (Mendum,M.) (ANIC); 48 mi. SW of Daly River (Mendum,M.) (ANIC); 5mi. ENE Victoria River Downs (Kelsey,L.P.) (ANIC); Daly River Mission (Hutchinson,J.F.) (ANIC); Katherine (Kelsey,L.P.) (ANIC); Todd River, 9 km N by E of Alice Springs (Cardale,J.C.) (ANIC); Queensland: Bamaga (Sedlacek,J.) (ANIC); Lockerbie, Cape York (Sedlacek,J.) (ANIC); Malanda (Hill,G.F.) (ANIC); West Claudie River, Iron Range (Monteith,G.B. & Cook,D.) (ANIC); Western Australia: Carson Escarpment (Common,I.F.B. & Upton,M.S.) (ANIC); Drysdale River (Common,I.F.B. & Upton,M.S.) (ANIC).Published as part of Shattuck, S. O., 2008, Review of the ant genus Aenictus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Australia with notes on A. ceylonicus (Mayr)., pp. 1-19 in Zootaxa 1926 on pages 8-1