Dinoponera lucida Emery (Formicidae: Ponerinae): the highest number of chromosomes known in Hymenoptera

Abstract

We report the remarkable karyotype of Dinoponera lucida, a Brazilian endemic ponerine ant. Its chromosome number is 2n=106, most of the chromosomes are acrocentric and of very small size, and the karyotype formula is 88A+18M. A chromosome pair of the AMt type is reported. This is the largest number of chromosomes reported for the Hymenoptera order until now.