{{Short description|Genus of ant}} {{Speciesbox | image = Retalimyrma wroughtonii casent0884103 profile 1.jpg | image_caption = A worker specimen from AntWeb | genus = Retalimyrma | species = wroughtonii | authority = (Forel, 1893)<ref name="antcat1">{{cite web |last1=Bolton |first1=Barry |title=''Retalimyrma'' Ward et al. 2025 |url=https://antcat.org/catalog/514249 |website=AntCat |publisher=antcat.org |access-date=15 November 2025 |ref=antcat1}}</ref> |display_parents = 3 }} '''''Retalimyrma''''' is a monotypic genus of ants in the subfamily Formicinae, consisting of the sole species '''''Retalimyrma wroughtonii''''', native to the Himalayas of Nepal and India. ''R. wroughtonii'' was previously placed in the genus ''Camponotus'' as ''Camponotus wroughtonii'', although it was separated in 2025 into its own genus based on ultraconserved element phylogenomic analysis. Its scientific name means "remnant ant" from Ancient Greek ''retáli'' (ῥετάλι, "remnant") + ''myrma'' (μύρμα, "ant").<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025">{{cite journal |last1=Ward |first1=Philip S. |last2=Fisher |first2=Brian L. |last3=Wernegreen |first3=Jennifer J. |last4=Blaimer |first4=Bonnie B. |title=Evolutionary history, novel lineages and symbiont coevolution in the ant tribe Camponotini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) |journal=Systematic Entomology |volume=50 |issue=3 |date=2025 |issn=0307-6970 |doi=10.1111/syen.12678 |doi-access=free |pages=646–676 |bibcode=2025SysEn..50..646W }}</ref>
==Taxonomy== The species was originally described as ''Camponotus (Camponotus) Wroughtonii'' by Auguste Forel in 1893, based on syntype workers and males collected by Smythies in the Himalayas at 9,000 feet.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" /> Bingham (1903) provided descriptions of the major worker and queen. The species was subsequently placed in the subgenus ''Myrmentoma'' by Emery (1920, 1925).<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" /> A syntype worker (CASENT0910427) in the Muséum d'histoire naturelle de Genève was designated as the lectotype by Ward et al. (2025).<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" /> The species is named after Robert Charles Wroughton (1849–1921), a British naturalist and Inspector General of Forests in India who collected numerous ant specimens and sent them to Forel for study.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Charles Wroughton |url=https://www.currentconservation.org/robert-charles-wroughton-1849-1921-2/ |website=Current Conservation |date=26 December 2021 |access-date=30 January 2026}}</ref>
Phylogenomic analysis using ultraconserved elements by Ward et al. (2025) revealed that ''Camponotus wroughtonii'' could not be placed in any existing genus and represented an isolated lineage within the tribe Camponotini. Along with two other novel genera, ''Lathidris'' from Mesoamerica and ''Uwari'' from eastern Asia, it was erected as a new monotypic genus.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" />
==Biology== Like all members of the tribe Camponotini, ''Retalimyrma wroughtonii'' harbours the obligate bacterial endosymbiont ''Blochmannia'', which provides nutritional benefits to its host.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wernegreen |first1=Jennifer J. |last2=Kauppinen |first2=Seth N. |last3=Brady |first3=Sean G. |last4=Ward |first4=Philip S. |title=One nutritional symbiosis begat another: Phylogenetic evidence that the ant tribe Camponotini acquired Blochmannia by tending sap-feeding insects |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=9 |pages=292 |date=2009 |issue=1 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-9-292 |pmid=20015388 |pmc=2805616 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2009BMCEE...9..292W }}</ref>
A nest of ''R. wroughtonii'' was found in Nepal at 2,550 metres elevation in open pine–cypress forest (''Pinus excelsa'', ''Cupressus torulosa'') on the west side of the Kali Gandaki River. The nest, located under several adjacent small stones, contained workers, larvae, and cocoons; no queen or major workers were found.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" />
==Distribution== ''Retalimyrma wroughtonii'' occurs in the Indian Himalayas and Nepal. The presumptive type locality is Deoban (30.75° N, 77.85° E) in Uttarakhand, India.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" /> The species has been recorded from six locations in Nepal at elevations ranging from 900 to 4,000 metres.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collingwood |first1=C. A. |title=Formicidae (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) from Nepal |journal=Khumbu Himal |volume=3 |pages=371–387 |date=1970}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Subedi |first1=I. P. |last2=Budha |first2=P. B. |last3=Bharti |first3=H. |last4=Alonso |first4=L. E. |title=Updated checklist of ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Nepal |journal=ZooKeys |issue=1006 |pages=99–136 |date=2020 |doi=10.3897/zookeys.1006.58808 |pmid=33390746 |pmc=7729251 |doi-access=free}}</ref> A historical literature record from Upper Burma (the Shan States at 4,000 feet) reported by Bingham (1903) requires verification.<ref name="Ward-et-al-2025" />
==See also== *Camponotini *''Camponotus''
==Citations== {{reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q136791965}}
Category:Ant genera Category:Formicinae Category:Insects of Nepal Category:Insects of India Category:Monotypic Hymenoptera genera Category:Hymenoptera of Asia Category:Taxa named by Auguste Forel