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Xiphopelta
Xiphopelta is a genus of ponerine ants containing 11 species found in the Afrotropics. Described as a subgenus in 1913, synonymized in 1973, and revalidated to full generic status by Fisher et al. in 2025, its species were previously placed in the genus Mesoponera by Schmidt & Shattuck in 2014. Its scientific name means "sword-shielded ant" from ancient Greek xíphos + péltā.
11 branches of this genus, most-observed first
Xiphopelta elisae
speciesXiphopelta elisae
Xiphopelta nimba
speciesXiphopelta nimba
Xiphopelta novemdentata
speciesXiphopelta novemdentata
Xiphopelta weberi
speciesXiphopelta weberi
Xiphopelta picea
speciesXiphopelta picea
Xiphopelta testacea
speciesXiphopelta testacea
Xiphopelta scolopax
speciesXiphopelta scolopax
Xiphopelta senegalensis
speciesXiphopelta senegalensis
Xiphopelta ambigua
speciesXiphopelta ambigua
Xiphopelta flavopilosa
speciesXiphopelta flavopilosa
Xiphopelta villiersi
speciesXiphopelta villiersi
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Xiphopelta in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 1659227.