{{Short description|Genus of ants}} {{Speciesbox |image = Promyopias silvestrii casent0102926 profile 1.jpg |image_caption = ''Promyopias silvestrii'' worker from the Ivory Coast |genus = Promyopias |parent_authority = Santschi, 1914 | display_parents = 4 |species = silvestrii |authority = (Santschi, 1914) |synonyms = ''Myopias silvestrii'' <small>Santschi, 1914 (type species)</small><br /> ''Promyopias asili'' <small>Crawley, 1916</small> }}
'''''Promyopias''''' is an Afrotropical genus of ant in the subfamily Ponerinae containing the single species '''''Promyopias silvestrii'''''.<ref name="AWPromyopias"/> The rare genus has previously been regarded as a separate genus, as a subgenus and as a provisional synonymy, but was reinstated at genus-rank in 2008.
==Description== ''Promyopias'', known from the Afrotropics, is uncommon but widely distributed. Its diet, presumably termites but not actually demonstrated, may be more restricted or specialized than in ''Centromyrmex''. The morphology of the mandible is unique and immediately identifies ''Promyopias silvestrii''. Males are unknown.<ref name="Bolton&Fisher_2008_31"/>
==Taxonomy== Santschi (1914) initially associated ''Promyopias'' with ''Myopias'',<ref name="Santschi_1914_323"/> the latter a moderately sized genus widespread in the Oriental, Malesian and Austral regions, because of supposed overall similarities in the form of the mandible and clypeus. It now seems certain that these similarities are the result of convergence through the development of similar predatory behaviors and life styles in the two genera. Major characters of ''Myopias'' that differentiate it from ''Promyopias'' include: eyes usually present in worker (absent in one species); scape not flattened; mesonotum sharply defined; spiniform setae entirely absent from middle and hind tibiae and basitarsi; helcium located at base of first gastral segment; posterodorsal margin of helcium with a median emargination; prora an anteroventral tooth; stridulitrum present.<ref name="Bolton&Fisher_2008_30"/>
During its history ''Promyopias'' has been regarded as a separate genus or as a subgenus of two other ponerine genera. The provisional synonymy of ''Promyopias'' with ''Centromyrmex'' proposed by Brown (1973)<ref name="Brown_1973_184"/> and accepted by Bolton (1994, 2003)<ref name="Bolton_1994_164"/><ref name="Bolton_2003_160"/> was based on the presence and distribution of spiniform setae on the legs. Bolton & Fisher (2008) formally reinstated ''Promyopias'' at genus-rank.<ref name="Bolton&Fisher_2008_28"/>
==References== {{Reflist|24em|refs= <ref name="AWPromyopias">{{cite web |url=http://www.antweb.org/description.do?name=Promyopias&rank=genus&project=allantwebants |title= Genus: Promyopias |website=antweb.org |publisher=AntWeb |access-date=23 September 2013}}</ref>
<ref name="Bolton_1994_164">{{harvnb|Bolton|1994|p=164}}</ref>
<ref name="Bolton_2003_160">{{harvnb|Bolton|2003|p=160}}</ref>
<ref name="Bolton&Fisher_2008_28">{{harvnb|Bolton|Fisher|2008|p=28}}</ref> <ref name="Bolton&Fisher_2008_30">{{harvnb|Bolton|Fisher|2008|p=30}}</ref> <ref name="Bolton&Fisher_2008_31">{{harvnb|Bolton|Fisher|2008|p=31}}</ref>
<ref name="Brown_1973_184">{{harvnb|Brown|1973|p=184}}</ref>
<ref name="Santschi_1914_323">{{harvnb|Santschi|1914|p=323}}</ref> }} {{refbegin}} *{{citation |last1=Bolton|first1=B. |year=1994|title= Identification Guide to the Ant Genera of the World, 222 pp. Cambridge, Ma.}} *{{citation |last1=Bolton|first1=B. |year=2003|title= Synopsis and classification of Formicidae.|journal=Memoirs of the American Entomological Institute|volume=71|pages=1–370}} *{{citation |first1=Barry|last1=Bolton|first2=Brian L. |last2=Fisher |year=2008 |title=Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera ''Centromyrmex'' Mayr, ''Promyopias'' Santschi gen. rev. and ''Feroponera'' gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=1929 |pages=1–37|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/zt01929p037.pdf|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1929.1.1|doi-access=free }} *{{citation |last1=Brown|first1=W.L. Jr. |year=1973|title= A comparison of the Hylean and Congo-West African rain forest ant faunas. In Meggers, B.J., Ayensu, E.S. & Duckworth, W.D. (eds.). Tropical Forest Ecosystems in Africa and South America: a Comparative Review |pages=161–185}} *{{citation |last1=Santschi|first1=F. |year=1914|title= Formicides de l'Afrique occidentale et australe du voyage de Mr. le Professeur ''F. Silvestri''.|journal=Bollettino del Laboratorio di Zoologia Generale e Agraria della R |publisher=Scuola superiore d'Agricoltura in Portici |volume=8|pages=309–385}} *{{OA-attribution| {{citation|ref=none |first1=Barry|last1=Bolton|first2=Brian L. |last2=Fisher |year=2008 |title=Afrotropical ants of the ponerine genera ''Centromyrmex'' Mayr, ''Promyopias'' Santschi gen. rev. and ''Feroponera'' gen. n., with a revised key to genera of African Ponerinae (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) |journal=Zootaxa |volume=1929 |pages=1–37|url=http://www.mapress.com/zootaxa/2008/f/zt01929p037.pdf|doi=10.11646/zootaxa.1929.1.1|doi-access=free }} }} {{refend}}
==External links== *{{commonscat-inline|Promyopias silvestrii|''Promyopias silvestrii''}}
{{Taxonbar|from1=Q14172257|from2=Q18580841}}
Category:Ponerinae Category:Monotypic ant genera Category:Hymenoptera of Africa