{{Short description|Genus of ants}} {{Speciesbox |image = Pachycondyla amblyops casent0172431 profile 1.jpg |image_caption = ''Buniapone amblyops'' worker, holotype specimen |display_parents = 4 |genus = Buniapone |parent_authority = Schmidt & Shattuck, 2014 |species = amblyops |authority = (Emery, 1887) |synonyms = ''Ponera amblyops'' <small>Emery, 1887</small> (type species of ''Buniapone'') }}
'''''Buniapone''''' is a monotypic genus of ants in the subfamily Ponerinae.<ref name="AntCat"/> '''''Buniapone amblyops''''', the single described species, is found in Southern and Southeast Asia.
==Etymology== thumb|left|Head view of a ''Buniapone amblyops'' worker The genus name is derived from orang bunian, supernatural forest-living beings in Malay folklore, with the suffix ''-pone'' from the name of subfamily.<ref name="Schmidt&Shattuck_2014"/>
==Taxonomy== The genus was established by Schmidt & Shattuck (2014) to house the single species ''Ponera amblyops'' (at the time a junior synonym ''Pachycondyla amblyops''), which was first described by Emery (1887)<ref name="Emery_1887"/> from worker specimen from the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The type species has a long and complicated taxonomic history, variously belonging to the genera ''Ponera'', ''Trapeziopelta'' (now ''Myopias''), ''Belonopelta'', ''Pachycondyla'', ''Pseudoponera'', ''Euponera'' and ''Pachycondyla''. One subspecies, ''B. amblyops oculatior'' from Indonesia, has been described.<ref name="Schmidt&Shattuck_2014"/> Molecular phylogeny by Schmidt (2013) resolved ''Buniapone'' as a sister to the strictly African genus ''Paltothyreus''.<ref name="Schmidt_2013"/>
==Distribution== The genus is distributed in Southern and Southeast Asia, from China to Indonesia and India.<ref name="Schmidt&Shattuck_2014"/>
==Description== Little is known about their biology, but they have a subterranean lifestyle and are thought to be predators, although not strictly carnivorous. Workers are medium in size (5.5–6.5 mm), orange-colored, and have long and narrow mandibles with seven teeth. Queens are similar to the workers, but larger (9.25 mm). ''Buniapone'' is morphologically similar to some ''Cryptopone'' and ''Promyopias'' species. However, ''Buniapone'' is more closely related to other species and the similarities are deemed to have evolved through convergent evolution.<ref name="Schmidt&Shattuck_2014"/>
==References== {{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="AntCat">{{AntCat|461790|''Buniapone''|2015|accessdate=6 January 2015}}</ref>
<ref name="Emery_1887">{{cite journal |last=Emery |first=C. |date=1887 |title=Catalogo delle formiche esistenti nelle collezioni del Museo Civico di Genova. Parte terza. Formiche della regione Indo-Malese e dell'Australia (continuazione e fine). |journal=Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale |volume=25 |pages=433–448}}</ref>
<ref name="Schmidt_2013">{{cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=C. A. |date=2013 |title=Molecular phylogenetics of ponerine ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae: Ponerinae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=3647 |issue=2 |pages=201–250 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3647.2.1|pmid=26295106 }}</ref>
<ref name="Schmidt&Shattuck_2014">{{cite journal |last1=Schmidt |first1=C. A. |last2=Shattuck |first2=S. O. |date=2014 |title=The Higher Classification of the Ant Subfamily Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a Review of Ponerine Ecology and Behavior |journal=Zootaxa |volume=3817 |issue=1 |pages=1–242 |doi=10.11646/zootaxa.3817.1.1 |pmid=24943802}}</ref>
}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Pachycondyla amblyops|''Buniapone amblyops''}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q19903632}}
Category:Ponerinae Category:Monotypic ant genera Category:Hymenoptera of Asia