Crematogaster (Orthocrema) muralti Forel
Type location Cameroun (Cremastogaster muralti, n.
sp., Forel, 1910e: 432, worker) worker only described (see Bolton,
1995)  .
NOTE - I have elevated the dark brown to black form
regarded as subspecies ugandensis (Santschi, 1914b: 99,
worker) from Uganda, with variety livingstonei
(Santschi, 1919a: 344, worker) from Zambia, to species
status -
Crematogaster
ugandensis.
Forel's (1910e) description is at
 .
Santschi (1935a) also saw workers of muralti from Kasai,
Dumbi; Ngombe and Kunungu, Zaïre; all collected by Dr
H Schouteden. |
Crematogaster (Orthocrema) species 1 - Nigeria
specimens (Taylor, 1979: 21). WORKER. TL 2.18 mm, HL 0.61, HW 0.59, SL 0.39, PW 0.34
Colour dark orange, very dark on the gaster. Moderately abundant
pilosity. Erect hairs clavate, this is especially noticeable on
the pedicel. Alitrunk profile a nearly continuous convex curve,
with only a slight depression at the metanotal groove. The
propodeal spines are short, triangular, upturned denticles. The
subpetiolar spine is moderately long and triangular.
The presence of a subpetiolar spine confounds the key of Bolton
(unpublished, 1969) to CRIN species; the clavate hairs, however,
seem unique.
Nests under bark, in dead branch ends and in mummified pods. In
Nigeria, it was not infrequently found on cocoa, on up to
1% of trees, often in association with Oecophylla longinoda,
and foraging over a surprisingly wide area of canopy (Taylor,
1977). It constructs discrete tents of vegetable debris over
Pseudococcids at the pod-stalk junction, the tents have been found
to be sources of cocoa black pod disease. Also found on native
shrubs and trees, and on kola.
Possibly the same (unnamed) species was mentioned by Strickland
(1951a) from Ghana and Togo. He described it as
being rare and of minor importance, but it was found also on
several other shrubs and trees. |
 The
photomontage is of a specimen from the Central African
Republic, Dzanga-Sangha NP; Camp 6; 02°55’04.8"
N 16°10’09.7" E 450m environ; 23.02.2005, U.V :
21h-6h30, à 38m du sol dans un Ayous (Triplochiton
scleroxylon, Sterculariaceae); collector Philippe Annoyer.
Other images can be seen in the folder at -
|
