This study contributes to an understanding of megadiversity in the arid-adapted ant genus Melophorus by presenting an integrated genetic, morphological and distributional analysis of diversity within the M. rufoniger group in the 400,000 km² Top End (northern region) of Australia’s Northern Territory. An earlier study of the Top End’s ant fauna lists eleven species from the M. rufoniger group, but a recent revision of Melophorus described the taxon as a single species occurring throughout most of the Australian mainland. CO1 sequences were obtained for 120 Top End specimens of the M. rufoniger group, along with a specimen from just outside the Top End. We recognize a total of 30 species among the sequenced specimens from the Top End, based on marked CO1 divergence (mean > 9%) in association with morphological differentiation and/or sympatric distribution. The sequenced specimen from just outside the Top End represents an additional species. Our unpublished CO1 data from other specimens from elsewhere in monsoonal Australia indicate that all but two of the 30 sequenced Top End species are endemic to the region, and that such diversity and endemism are similar in both the Kimberley region of far northern Western Australia and in North Queensland. The total number of species in the M. rufoniger group is potentially more than the 93 total species of Melophorus recognized in the recent revision. It has previously been estimated that Melophorus contains at least 1000 species, but our findings suggest that this is a conservative estimate.

中文翻译：

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蚂蚁属的物种多样性：澳大利亚北领地最北端的鲁菲格·赫特里克，卡斯塔拉内利和沙特克物种

这项研究通过对澳大利亚北领地400,000 km ²顶端区（北部地区）的鲁氏沼虾群内的多样性进行了综合的遗传，形态学和分布分析，有助于了解干旱适应的蚂蚁属Melophorus的多样性。对“顶端”的蚂蚁动物群进行的较早研究列出了M. rufoniger组中的11种，但是最近对Melophorus进行的修订将分类单元描述为整个澳大利亚大陆大部分地区的单一物种。从120个rufoniger顶端标本中获得了CO1序列组，以及来自顶端外部的标本。基于与形态分化和/或同胞分布相关的明显CO1差异（平均值> 9％），我们从顶端测序的标本中识别出总共30种。从顶端外部开始排序的标本代表了其他物种。我们未发表的来自季风澳大利亚其他地区的其他标本的CO1数据表明，除了30个排序的最高端物种中的两个物种外，其他均是该地区特有的，并且这种多样性和特有性在西澳大利亚州北部的金伯利地区和澳大利亚北昆士兰州。鲁弗尼格氏菌组的物种总数可能超过梅洛弗鲁斯氏菌的93个物种在最近的修订中得到认可。以前已经估计过Melophorus包含至少1000种，但是我们的发现表明这是一个保守的估计。