Cardiocondyla emeryi Forel

- Seifert Key Type location Virgin Is. (Forel, 1881: 5, worker); subspecies fezzanensis (Bernard, 1948: 142, queen) from Algeria and schatzmayri (Finzi, 1936: 170, illustrated, worker) from Egypt; junior synonyms mahdii (Karavaiev, 1911: 8, worker) from Sudan, mauritia (Donisthorpe, 1946c: 776, worker) from Mauritius, monilicornis (Emery, 1917a: 96, ergatoid male) from Virgin Is., nereis (W M Wheeler, 1927i: 140, worker & queen) from Australia, rasalamae (Forel, 1891b: 161, worker; Forel, 1912k: 163, queen) and yorubae (yoruba, Rigato, 2002) from Nigeria - new synonymy (see Bolton, 1995) .

Forel's (1881) description is at . Emery (1909a: 26) gave a comprehensive illustrated description, this is at . Arnold (1916) gave a translation and illustrated description, this is at and . The small drawing is by Emery from his Myrmicinae catalogue (Emery, 1922f). Karavaiev's (1911) description of mahdii is at . Bolton's modern description (1982) is at Seifert's re-description (2003) is at

Note fezzanensis and monilicornis are not in Seifert's synonyms - he has them as "incertae sedis"; schatzmayri is moved to a junior synonym of Cardiocondyla fajumensis.

Described as a tramp species by Bolton (1982). Wheeler (1922) noted records from Zaïre.
From Nigeria, specimens in the CRIN collection had been found in soil at CRIN (B. Bolton). Also collected at Bussa (J.T. Medler).
Bolton (1982) listed Ghana collections at Polcoase (W. Bellfield) and Kibi (D. Leston). Collected by Room (1971) from open ground at the Mamfe-Mampong cocoa farm in Ghana.
In Cameroun collected at Nko'emvon (D.A. Jackson).
Collingwood (1985) reporting it from Saudi Arabia, noted all the samples were taken from leaf litter in tree shade.

Seifert (2003) examined specimens from - Angola: Luanda, 6.5 km S, 23.viii,1949, w. Botswana: Shanobe, 23.vi.1975, w. Burundi: Barage, 23.x.1977, w. Cameroon: Mbalmayo, xi.1993, w; Nkoemvon, 1980, w. Cape Verde: Cap Verde I, 1989, gyne; Fogo: Cha des Chaldeiras, 3.xi.1979,w; San Vincente, Rib. Juilao, 1953, w. Nigeria: Gambari, 10.vi.1969, w; Ibadan, 10.1987, w. Rwanda: Barage, 1977, w. South Africa: Durban, 26.ix.1914, w; Transvaal, Nelspruit, 1980, w. Sudan: Khartoum, 1900, w; Wadi Halfa, 28.i.1962, w. Uganda: Ruwenzori, Semliki Forest, 1952, w. Tanzania: Ibaya, 1 km N, 1996, w; Lindi, 22.x.1922, w. Zimbabwe: Bembesi, 12.i.1913, worker.

Seifert wrote of "different colour variants" and two sets of examples are shown below.

Type form - head and alitrunk yellow-ochre, gaster varying to dark brown.

Drawn specimen from Nigeria (Taylor, 1979: 3) TL 1.77 mm, HL 0.44, HW 0.36, SL 0.28, PW 0.25; features as for the genus, then as in key. Colour orange and the gaster and antennal club are brown.

The photomontage is of specimens from Egypt, Talka Mansurah, E 31°35' N 31°10'; 31.vii.2003, collected by Mostafa Sharaf. Other images can be seen in the folder at - .

Cardiocondyla yorubae Rigato - name change from yoruba is necessary as "Yoruba" is the name of the human tribe, so the correct name has to become an adjective - yorubae

Described by Rigato (2002) from IITA, north of Ibadan, see - . However, I can find no significant difference between Rigato's description and that of emeryi; the drawing I made of emeryi from no more than 30 km away matches Rigato's (pedicel dorsum) and other details are as in Rigato's description. Although the drawing is very small, it is apparent that the specimen illustrated in Emery (1922f) also has the same pedicel shape as my drawing and that of Rigato (for yorubae) and it is the Bolton (1982) drawing that may be misleading. Comparing the Rigato drawing and my montage of a specimen from Egypt on the same size scale shows no obvious difference and the Egypt specimen appears to exactly match Rigato's description. The specimen from Ghana, below, also matches the descriptions.
It is curious that Bolton supplied the IITA specimens but did not give Rigato any CRIN specimens (collected by him, Bolton, and identified by him as emeryi). Rigato noted yorubae as having a lesser size TL 1.6-1.7 mm, than emeryi, citing Bolton (1982). Bolton, actually gave TL 1.7-2.1 mm; Forel (1881) gave TL 1.6-1.8 mm; the specimen I drew had TL 1.77 mm and other slightly larger dimensions than yorubae.
Thus, I cannot regard yorubae as anything other than a junior synonym of emeryi. Moreover, it is obvious that the IITA specimens were examined by Seifert, who also listed Bolton specimens from CRIN, like the one I drew. The Rigato drawing shows the angular profile to the petiole, given for the type form by Seifert.

The photomontage is of a specimen from Ghana, collected by S Sky Stephens, 2006. Other images can be seen in the folders at - and .

Congo Basin form - head and alitrunk red-brown, gaster near black.

The photomontage is collated from http://www.antweb.org/specimen.do?name=casent0006004 Collection Information: Specimen Code CASENT0006004 Locality Gabon: Ogoove-Maritime: Reserve de la Moukalaba-Dougoua, 7 km NW Doussala; 02°19'50"S 010°32'39"E 110 m; Collection codes: GA00S151; Date: 21 Mar 2000; Collected by: S.V.Noort; Method: sweep; Habitat: Savanna, grasses & Nauclea latifolia

This specimen although from the western side of the continent appears close to the description given by Seifert for C. emeryi rasalamae; i.e the reduced sculpture of the clypeus, the distinctive foveae on the vertex; the reduced sculpturation on the alitrunk (mesosoma) and petiole; and the convex profile of the petiole dorsum.

Similar specimens from Congo, Brazzaville, collected from pitfall traps by Yves Braet & Eric Zassi, 19.viii.2007, pitfall t 1.1, t 1.2, t 1.3 & t 1.19, can be seen in the folders at - , , and .

The photomontage is of a queen from Sudan, collected by J Mathews, by pyrethrum fogging of Acacia senegal; Abu Gmein, Blue Nile, 11°21' N 34°27' E, 22.xi.2000, JM 115, 1 queen.
Other images can be seen in the folder at - ; .